Vax mandate eases worry
Concerns over daily student life addressed
After the leaders of the state’s nine universities decided last week to require all students to have been vaccinated against COVID-19, a Fitchburg State student and professor said it was the correct decision to return the campus back to a relative sense of normal.
FSU history and secondary education major and resident adviser Joseph Cautela III said he was “relieved” when he heard the news about state universities and colleges requiring a COVID-19 vaccination.
“With the accessibility of the vaccine, the student body was starting to wonder what the state schools’ stance would be on the matter,” he said. “I am glad the state schools made their decision early on.”
Cautela, a member of the FSU Class of 2022, was recently elected the student representative to the university’s Board of Trustees. As such he will have full voting powers as the voice of the student body when his term begins July 1. He said he agrees with the vaccine requirement decision.
“As someone who has been very vigilant regarding the pandemic, I undoubtedly support mandating the COVID vaccine,” Cautela said. “Requiring immunizations isn’t unprecedented for Massachusetts state schools, as a multitude of other vaccines are required for students to attend these public institutions. I think it’s very reasonable to add another vaccine to that list, especially the COVID-19 vaccine as we are currently in a worldwide pandemic. Requiring the vaccine will make the campus much safer for the faculty, staff, student body, and the overall Fitchburg community.”
Cautela received his second Moderna vaccine on April 30.
“I had a 99 temperature and I felt fatigued after my first vaccine, however the side effects only occurred for a day or two,” he said.
The Massachusetts State University system, which includes Fitchburg State University, recently joined a growing number of colleges and universities across the country and state requiring students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before attending in-person classes this coming fall.
According to a press release, the presidents of the nine universities in the system unanimously decided to require undergraduate and graduate students who are attending in-person classes, conducting research on campus, living in residence halls, or participating in campus life activities to become fully inoculated with an approved COVID-19 vaccine prior to the start
of the 2021 academic year. The presidents expect that all employees will also be fully vaccinated prior to the start of the fall semester.
“Prior to the beginning of the fall semester and following state, federal and legal guidance, the Massachusetts State Universities will require all students to be fully immunized before returning to campus for the start of the fall semester,”James Birge, president of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and chair of the Massachusetts State University Council of Presidents, said in the press release. “Student safety and the safety of our communities remains at the forefront of our planning as we prepare to return to in-person learning and campus life in the fall.”
All state universities will offer a traditional schedule of in-person classes in addition to online and hybrid options for both residential and commuter student populations.
The nine campuses in the system are Bridgewater, Fitchburg, Framingham, Salem, Westfield and Worcester State Universities, Massachusetts College of Art & Design, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
“We are sharing this information now to give students, their families and our employees ample time to make plans to be vaccinated prior to the start of the fall term,” Birge said.
FSU Director of Public Relations Matthew Bruun said all students who will be living and or studying on campus this fall, or involved in any on-campus activities, “will be required to be inoculated with an approved vaccine by the beginning of the fall semester in September.” In addition, weekly COVID testing is required for FSU student athletes, commuter students taking on-campus classes, and residential and nursing students.
According to the press release the state universities have been leaders in the Stop the Spread Campaign and throughout the year have made COVID-19 testing and contact tracing a priority on the campuses. Since returning to campus last year, the nine state universities have operationalized a robust oncampus COVID testing and tracing system for students, staff and faculty, which successfully resulted in helping to identify and contain the COVID virus in campus communities.
FSU associate professor of biology Sean Rollins is “grateful and relieved” that the vaccine will be required.
“I agree with this decision,” he said. “First off, it will reduce case numbers. Secondly, it will let students and teachers concentrate on learning, instead of constantly dealing with changes in the way courses are taught and worrying about how to distance our interactions. I teach a lot of lab techniques — it is impossible to remain 6 feet apart and show a student fine details on a lab diagnostic.”
Rollins, who has taught at FSU for nine years, said he has primarily been teaching nursing students since the vaccine became available.
“They became eligible early in the process due to patient interactions,” he said. “Most of them were enthusiastic to receive the vaccine. I feel most students are really just interested in returning to normal as soon as possible and see vaccination as a means to get there. It is the postcollege age people that are more concerned about requiring the vaccine.”
Rollins said he is “double dosed already” with the Pfizer vaccine, having received his vaccine at Lawrence East Elementary School in March. He said he had no side effects after the first shot. After the second one, he “felt a little achy and lethargic” for a day, although he still took his 9-year-old daughter skiing.
“I absolutely think vaccination will get us back to normal sooner,” Rollins said. “I am really looking forward to just concentrating on teaching.”
As for Cautela, he said he is looking forward to “a vibrant campus community when we return to some sort of normalcy.”
“My favorite semester in my college career so far was the fall semester of my sophomore year, fall 2019, because the campus reached its peak with student involvement and engagement in the community,” he said.
“Although I don’t anticipate the same lively FSU that we once had, I hope we build back to that point. FSU requiring the COVID vaccine is the only way to get us to FSU’s once vibrant campus community,” he said.