EDITORIAL: WITH CARE, MHCC SHOULD MANDATE COVID VACCINATION TO ATTEND IN-PERSON CLASSES

As many colleges and universities, local and otherwise, move toward mandatory COVID vaccination for students attending in-person classes, MHCC will not remain impartial regarding the conversation – especially as the pressure of an uncertain Fall Term grows closer and closer.

Because Mount Hood’s participation in the debate is inescapable, a confident perspective would only serve to ensure a smoother transition into whatever format the future may hold for the college.

But first, one must fully understand there exists a considerable amount of reasonable discourse necessary before an informed decision could and should be made.

Advocate staffers hold concerns toward required vaccination, no doubt shared by a significant amount of MHCC students and faculty. For one, to what extent would the purpose of a mandate simply be to rush along a return to pre-COVID normalcy, rather than a move that actually respects student choice/perspectives? Additionally, is such a move at least a little bit of an overkill when a mask and social distancing mandate will no doubt be in place as well?

This is not even mentioning the decades of medical abuse that has cultivated distrust in the American medical industry among people of color. This distrust stems from unethical clinical experiments and the U.S. healthcare system that has historically harmed, and continues to disproportionality harm, black and brown lives. Forced sterilizations and the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis study – a study conducted for 40 years that put Black men’s lives at risk without proper medical treatment – are just a few of the valid reasons for concerns against new medical practices.

Above concerns acknowledged, there are likewise plenty of reasons why arguing for an immunization requirement at Mt. Hood is not incredibly difficult. The more obvious aspect, safety, is rather hard to ignore: Thanks to OSHA required email-delivered notices, we are consistently informed regarding new cases on campus, a constant reality even now when the vast majority of our student body remains online; one can only imagine what will occur as a crowd largely repopulates the college’s shared spaces. Multnomah County has yet to see even a lowering to the state-deemed “moderate risk” level as of late, and our pro-mandate staff members cannot stress enough the importance of prioritizing public health and safety when deliberating on these kinds of issues.

As far as we understand, ensuring that students are vaccinated before expecting thousands of us to congregate in relatively close quarters is the only way to lessen COVID casualties as much as possible.

Furthermore, in regards to uninformed/underprivileged populations yet to be vaccinated for some of the reasons listed above, why wouldn’t we choose to move toward better serving these communities, rather than simply appealing to their skepticism?

With those groups being disproportionately affected by symptoms and higher death rates from COVID-19, it’s crucially important to have trusted information concerning the vaccine, and multilingual accessibility. We see that vaccine acceptance is rising in communities of color with the help of black and brown medical professionals disseminating accurate information and resources while also addressing misinformation. Johns Hopkins Hospital, ranked third in the nation, considers the available vaccines to be safe and effective. According to the information provided by the institution, the vaccines were produced without compromising safety. Rigorous evaluations for safety occurred during the trials and side effects are continuously monitored by the U.S. FDA, and by expert panels.

Many people are concerned about how quickly the vaccine was produced, but it must be remembered that the groundwork for the mRNA vaccine existed years before the COVID-19 pandemic. Worldwide collaboration, governmental funding, a large pool of test subjects and previous coronaviruses that provoked the groundwork for the mRNA vaccine all aided in the rapid production of the current vaccines.

In the end, staff concerns regarding the health of those who bring our college to life outnumbered concerns based on an unease toward required immunization.

While the decision will surely not be a pleasing one for all perspectives at MHCC, there is only one answer here that can truly express the dedication to our community and its well-being our administration certainly holds: There should be a mandate – with reasonable exemptions allowed.

While we may never really return to a ante-pandemic world, Mount Hood must do its part in ensuring we are able to begin anew as compassionately as possible.

Advocate Staff