Hofstra is requiring students to get vaccinated before the Fall semester begins

Hofstra 2020 and 2021 graduates get to walk across the stage as a sign that campus life will return to normal. // Photo courtesy Alexis Friedman.

Hofstra is requiring all students and staff to be fully vaccinated before returning to campus in the fall. This announcement was sent on Monday, May 10 to the Hofstra community through a university email from Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued authorization for the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines to be used to vaccinate everyone in the United States. Hofstra and many colleges and universities are requiring students to be fully vaccinated before returning to campus. Although the vaccines are still only emergency authorized, Pfizer is asking the FDA for full approval. 

“I think it’s a bit of an overstep by Hofstra to require this, especially because the vaccine is only emergency authorized and it’s still an experimental shot that causes all kinds of side effects,” said Rob Sieger, sophomore international business major. “You can still get COVID after getting the shot.”

A doctor that specializes in epidemiology thinks that getting the COVID-19 vaccine should be mandated for students, just like for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella.  

“I think it’s a reasonable public health measure to require vaccinations for COVID-19 for those people whom the vaccine is recommended and safe,“ said Dr. Lauren Block, associate professor at Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell.

Some students are happy that Hofstra is taking steps to keep the community safe.

“I feel very relieved to know that Hofstra is requiring vaccines just because you really don’t know what people are doing, where they’re going and whether people are actually wearing masks or not,” said Sinjita Bhattacharya, a sophomore sociology major.

While millions of people in the country and New York have been fully vaccinated, there are still a lot of people who have not got their shots and do not plan on it either. Almost 43% of people in New York are fully vaccinated, according to Our World in Data. Starting Wednesday, May 19, fully vaccinated people will be able to stop wearing their masks indoors and outdoors. Businesses have the option to require masks within their facility and masks will be required in crowded areas.

“Whether or not you have been vaccinated, I think people should still wear a mask and continue to social distance,” said Edgar Metzger, adjunct assistant professor of Romance Languages and Literatures.

Dr. Block agrees with Metzger, adding that people who are fully vaccinated should still plan on keeping their masks handy until the rate of infection is sufficiently low.

“I think we are still all in this together and dependent on each other to wear masks when indicated, to maintain distance when feasible, to wash our hands, stay home when we’re not feeling well, go get tested if we’re feeling ill.” Block said. “I think a lot of the lessons we’ve learned from this pandemic will continue until the infection level is sufficiently low in our community and all the communities that people come to Hofstra from around the world.”

Hofstra students believe that the required vaccination is a push for a return to normalcy.

“It shows that the administration is working their best to try and get us back to what the new normal is,” said Will Germaine, junior community health major.