“If vaccines are working for somebody, I’m not going to take them away. People ought to have choice, and that choice ought to
be informed by the best information.” — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
stop the spread of the disease. However, once questions were
raised about their effectiveness, inter- est in the subsequent booster shots decreased dramatically. On April 1, 2024, Rutgers announced on its website that it had dropped its COVID-19 shot mandate, making it the last major university to do so. However, a handful of smaller
schools persisted, mainly due to indi- vidual faculty members still being concerned about catching the virus, according to Sinatra. “We are seeing pressure from an incredibly fearful faculty to the extent that at this point, I think for many of these schools, the mandates are going to be permanent,” said Sinatra, who has been in touch with most of the institutions over their vaccine policies. Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, a practi- tioner in Texas and president of Amer- icans for Health Freedom, told News- max that mandating students to take the vaccine is unethical, adding that she believes some of her patients have suffered side effects from the shots. “I see people breaking down in tears
several times a week because of these COVID shots. I’ve never seen anything like it in my career,” said Bowden. “To push these on kids to take the shot when so much remains unknown is just hard to fathom.” Government data indicates that wide-
spread reports of adverse health out- comes could be attributed to the shots. According to the Vaccine Adverse
Event Reporting System (VAERS) data- base, managed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Cen- ters for Disease Control and Preven- tion (CDC), COVID-19 shots have been named the primary suspect in more
than 1.5 million adverse event reports. The hot-button issue of vaccine
mandates reemerged in the news after President-elect Donald Trump tapped Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former independent presidential candidate and a vaccine skeptic, to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which would help oversee how vaccines are created and distributed. Kennedy told NBC News in November that he isn’t anti-vaccine but against mandates. He wants Americans to have access to informa- tion that would allow them to make informed decisions. “If vaccines are working for some-
body, I’m not going to take them away,” he said. “People ought to have choice, and that choice ought to be informed by the best information. “I’m going to make sure scientific
safety studies and efficacy are out there, and people can make individ- ual assessments about whether that product is going to be good for them,” Kennedy added. There also remains the fear
among some health advocates that as long as some schools continue to require the COVID-19 vaccine for students, it leaves the door open for future mandates. They point to mask mandates,
which have made a return in some parts of the country. Several counties in San Francis-
co’s Bay Area issued health orders requiring that face masks be worn in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and other healthcare settings begin- ning last November and extending through either March 31 or April 30 this year, according to the San Fran- cisco Chronicle.
They Won’t Tell O
f the 16 universities still mandating shots, none would
explain why to Newsmax. A representative at Morehouse
told Newsmax that while the COVID-19 shot is mandated for all new students, “reasonable accommodations” will be considered for religious reasons. When asked if the school
had different information on the vaccines from the schools that have already dropped the mandate, including Harvard and Rutgers, the representative only offered that students had the right to petition the school for an opt-out. “I can’t tell you when, if ever, the mandate will be removed,” the representative added. A member of the student health
department at Oberlin College also refused to offer evidence to support vaccine mandates, referring all other questions to its website, which reads that “all students, faculty, and staff attending or working at Oberlin receive a full COVID-19 vaccine unless an individual has an approved medical or religious exemption.” Cal Poly Humboldt requires the
COVID-19 vaccine for all students at residential housing, stating on its website that “individuals must be fully immunized according to current recommendations of the CDC.” A representative told Newsmax only that the school “is committed to the protection of health and wellness of all students.” Messages or calls from Newsmax
to the 13 other schools on the list were not returned.
JANUARY 2025 | NEWSMAX 15
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