As COVID-19 cases continue to surge in some areas of the country over the past couple of weeks, lawsuits against universities requiring that incoming students be vaccinated also continue. The latest federal lawsuit to be filed puts Chico State at the center of controversy.
As reported by KSBW, the lawsuit filed by three Chico State students alleges that the requirement that all incoming students of a California State University (CSU) receive a COVID-19 vaccine before returning to in-person classes in the fall puts them at risk of dying.
The CDC, however, has not established a causal link of deaths with COVID-19 vaccines. Instead, health experts say the vaccines are safe and that persons who have already had COVID-19 still need to get vaccinated against the disease, reports Healthline. They say that a person’s immune response isn’t as strong after having COVID-19 as the immune response that happens after vaccination.
All three Chico State plaintiffs contracted and recovered from COVID-19 in early 2020. The lawsuit names several defendants, including CSU, Chico State President Gayle Hutchinson, the CDC, FDA, and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
CSU specifies that the vaccine requirement is conditional upon one or more of the vaccines getting full approval by the FDA. All three vaccines are currently approved only for emergency use.
Still, CSU is responding to the lawsuit by developing a draft policy that includes exemptions based on medical or religious reasons, but that “continues to encourage members of the campus communities to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.” Additionally, Chico State plans to continue to offer online classes due to the inability to properly regulate the CDC’s social distancing guidelines.
Other schools that have been sued by students for requiring the vaccine include Indiana University and the University of Connecticut, both of which stand by their mandates, just as the lawsuit by more than 100 Houston Methodist Hospital employees was recently thrown out in a court of law.
According to UConn officials, most students say they want to receive the vaccine. Another study found that COVID-19 vaccination mandates are overwhelmingly supported by U.S. college students.
The CDC continues to recommend that even people who have recovered from COVID-19 get vaccinated. “Experts do not yet know how long you are protected from getting sick again after recovering from COVID-19. It is possible, although rare, that you could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 again. Studies have shown that the vaccination provides the strongest boost in protection in people who have recovered from COVID-19.”
