Colleges make COVID vaccinations mandatory

By Owen Smith

May 17, 2021

After a seemingly endless school year, focus for seniors is now shifting to next year. Will colleges require students to be vaccinated for COVID-19 by the fall?

New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, says vaccinations will be required for all SUNY and CUNY public colleges and universities. He also encourages private institutions to follow suit and require student vaccinations.

Colonie Central High School graduate, Nana Agyeman, thinks requiring vaccines is a good

idea and Brandon Akouko, another Colonie graduate, says it “shows progression.”

The news that vaccines will be required to open up education full-time follows a few weeks where vaccination rates have dropped across the country.

Governor Cuomo hopes the new requirements for students will help to combat the lowering vaccination rates, as 16 to 30 year olds are the group least vaccinated in New York so far.

Along with the new obligation for college students, vaccination rates are hoped to rise now that 12 to 15 year olds can receive the Pfizer vaccine.

If high schools can enforce students to get vaccinated in order to return to the classroom, the nation’s education will be able to resume and students can get back to living normal lives again.

“I think vaccines should be required for schools and colleges next year,” said CCHS senior, Alyssa Lambert. “This would allow us to partake in more events and to do more than this past year.”

As a senior during this pandemic, she knows exactly she’s missed this year. Until the spring, there was barely anything for seniors to do, much less for the lower grades too.

Devin Charton, another Colonie senior, got vaccinated because it allows him to be able to get back to normal and do things that he wasn’t able to before.

“Because fully vaccinated people have less mask, isolation, and social distancing restrictions compared to unvaccinated people,” he says.”

There are reasons to be vaccinated other than it being a potential requirement.

“I chose to get vaccinated to protect myself and those around me. Also, I knew being vaccinated would make me feel less worried about getting COVID-19,” said Lambert.

As a whole, the nation's COVID crisis is resolving itself due to the millions of people who have gotten their shots. Now, vaccination rates have been decreasing as we look to the future. But there is still a fight back against these rates. Younger kids are now eligible for the Pfizer vaccine as college students across the country prepare to meet their vaccination requirement for the fall.