Question of the Week: Vaccine Mandates
Coronavirus vaccine mandates are a hot topic these days…and a controversial one, too. Employers at many businesses and organizations are requiring employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and employees are responding with mixed emotions.
Personally, I think getting the vaccine is an individual choice. There are reasons why people choose to get the vaccine, such as the fact that they have elderly relatives in the family or they may have a health condition that would make them more vulnerable to the virus. Others may choose not to get the vaccine because of a lack of trust, a fear of the risks or for religious reasons.
Since the topic is a hot one, we thought we’d ask Bluefield University employees and students, “do you think think employees should be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine?”
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Cortarius Gilmore, Major Undecided
I think that employees should get the vaccine, because if you are a teacher that works for a school, you should be vaccinated so you when you get around kids you won’t pass the virus to them or to anyone that has a health condition.
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Trent Smith, Sports Management
If you work at a fast food or big restaurant where you have to take orders from people or have to serve the customers their food, you should have to get vaccinated. If you have the virus nobody wants you to breathe on their food to spread the virus. So it’s safer to get the vaccine if your are working at a restaurant.
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Kyle Orris, Criminal Justice
Some employees don’t need to get the vaccine, because it depends on the job. Some jobs don’t really require the vaccine, like construction.
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Rod Howard, Assistant Football Coach
Yes and no. Yes because the older people that have health conditions need the vaccine to fight it off, and no because it can be a choice if people want to take it or not.
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Landon Knepp, Sports Communication
No, because either way you get the vaccine or not people can still get sick with it or without. Some people can be just as healthy as a horse and still die of natural causes.
Research from the SARS-CoV outbreak of 2003 benefited the development of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) vaccines, but not every real world variable is present in laboratory settings. Many vaccinated people have claimed to experience major, adverse effects. We need to reach the point where experts stop saying “no research suggests such adverse effects will happen” and start saying “research specifically and consistently refutes those possibilities” before mandates can be considered responsible. We need to know in great detail how the vaccines mix with any combination of medical conditions and medicines. Those who choose to be vaccinated should be respected, and those that are hesitant to receive vaccines that are new to the mass population or of a new type (mRNA) should also be respected.