Opposing Viewpoints: Requiring the COVID-19 vaccine is wrong for the Hopkins community
Reporting about the SGA, not a record of it: The Johns Hopkins News-Letter published this and the SGA did not write it, file it, or approve it. The archive holds it because the article itself uses the phrase “student government”.
Summary
- This Johns Hopkins News-Letter article presents student Shizheng Tie’s argument against requiring COVID-19 vaccination for the Hopkins community.
- The News-Letter reported that Tie supported vaccines but preferred education about their risks and benefits over a university-wide mandate.
- The paper reported that Tie cited limited studies, uncertain long-term safety and unanswered questions about whether vaccines prevent transmission.
- The article adds that Tie pointed to recommendations from the World Health Organization and President-elect Joe Biden against requiring vaccination, partly because mandates could increase public opposition.
- The reporter writes that Tie proposed concrete guidelines, health resources, frequent testing and individual responsibility as Hopkins’s strategy for reopening.
- The article also includes a correction saying it had made an unsupported suggestion about the effectiveness of Chinese-developed vaccines against foreign strains.