Student Government Leaders Call on Penn State to Require COVID-19 Vaccinations

Penn State student government leaders issued a statement on Saturday night demanding Penn State’s Board of Trustees hold an emergency meeting to vote on requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for students and employees ahead of the fall semester.

The letter, signed by University Park Undergraduate Association President Erin Boas, UPUA Vice President Najee Rodriguez, and Graduate and Professional Student Association President Schönn Franklin, urged Penn State to move quickly as COVID-19’s Delta variant spreads across the country.

“The time to act is now. There must be ample time for those who remain unvaccinated to become at least partially vaccinated by the start of the fall semester,” they wrote. “We have a duty to protect our communities and all those who belong to the Penn State community, and requiring vaccinations will ensure just that.”

In their letter, the student government leaders called on the Board of Trustees meet and mandate vaccines for students and employees before the fall semester begins, “with limited exemptions for religious and medical reasons.” Currently, the board isn’t scheduled to meet again until Sept. 16 and 17.

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If it passed a mandate, Penn State would join more than half of the Big Ten by requiring COVID-19 vaccinations. Rutgers, Indiana, Michigan State, Northwestern, Maryland, Illinois, and Michigan each have similar requirements, although some let unvaccinated people bypass vaccines if they test negative for the virus each week.

More than 600 campuses nationwide are requiring at least some students and/or employees to be vaccinated against the virus, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

“With over 96,000 students and 31,000 full-time employees, the Pennsylvania State University must join its fellow universities in the prioritization of community health and safety,” the letter reads.

UPUA and GPSA leadership also called on Penn State to continue testing students for COVID-19 and offering quarantine and isolation space on campus. Although capacity has lessened from last year, Penn State will reserve 200 Eastview Terrace rooms for students affected by COVID-19.

Earlier this summer, Penn State launched anonymous, non-mandatory surveys to learn if students and employees were vaccinated. To date, the university hasn’t published any collected data. It’s unclear how many students and employees are already vaccinated against COVID-19.

So far, Penn State has largely shied away from requiring vaccines. Instead, it’s focused on incentivizing vaccinations by hosting free vaccine clinics on campus and offering weekly raffles and drawings for vaccinated students and employees.

In May, Penn State’s Faculty Senate voted to overwhelmingly recommend vaccine requirements for students and employees returning to campus this fall. The non-binding vote showed only support, though, and did not result in new Penn State policies.

UPUA passed a similar resolution last spring supporting vaccine requirements.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID-19’s Delta variant is more than two times as transmissible as original strains of the virus. Cases in vaccinated individuals are rare, and while those who do become infected could still spread the virus to others, they are less likely to do so than unvaccinated individuals.

After declining for nearly three months, COVID-19 positivity rates, cases and hospitalizations in Pennsylvania and Centre County have increased over the past several weeks.

For the week of July 23-July 29, the county’s PCR testing positivity rate was 3.6%, up from 2.9% the previous seven days, according to the updated DOH early warning monitoring dashboard. The county had 42 confirmed cases last week, up from 33 the prior week, and its average daily COVID-specific hospitalizations increased from 4.3 to 9.0.

Statewide, the positivity rate grew from 2.7% to 3.9% as new cases increased from 2,515 to 4,091. Average COVID hospitalizations increased from 289.4 to 418.9.

Additional reporting by StateCollege.com’s Geoff Rushton