Editor’s Note: This is a public Student Union document which has been reproduced to increase the document’s accessibility for the student body and to ensure the availability of a public record in service of the Danforth Dispatch’s goal of facilitating improvements to the community.
Introduced by Health and Wellness Committee Chair Maddy Kish
Whereas, the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is spreading rapidly, with infections reaching their highest point since March of 2020; and
Whereas, booster shots have been proven to increase immune response to COVID-19 and significantly improve health outcomes; and
Whereas, the university administration mandated that all students be fully vaccinated by the time they arrived on campus for the Fall 2021 semester; and
Whereas, booster shots now offer the strongest protection against COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and death according to public health officials, and a mandate would conform to these public health guidelines; and
Whereas, mandating the university community to receive the booster shot will protect our community members, both on-campus and in St. Louis, from the worst health outcomes of the pandemic; and
Whereas, all of our comparable peer institutions have implemented similar mandates for students, faculty, and staff, including at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, the University of Chicago, Northwestern, MIT, Princeton, Brown, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Pennsylvania, Emory, Duke, Rice, Tufts, Boston College, and major public university systems in Michigan, California, New York, Massachusetts, and Colorado; and
Whereas, a booster mandate will increase the number of students, faculty, and staff who are fully protected against COVID-19. Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, that Student Union encourages the university administration to mandate booster shots for all students, faculty, and staff who intend to return to campus in the Spring 2022 semester; further, be it
Resolved, that this booster mandate require that all students, faculty, and staff receive a booster shot by January 31, 2022, or within one month after eligibility to receive a booster shot (6 months after the second shot of Moderna, 5 months after the second shot of Pfizer, or 2 months after the single dose of J&J); further, be it
Resolved, that the university maintain religious and health exemptions comparable to those of the Fall 2021 semester.