Delta College has officially mandated that all students planning to partake in in-person classes for the Spring 2022 semester be fully vaccinated by Oct. 15.
The Delta College Board of Trustees made the decision during its meeting held on Aug. 17.
Although mandating vaccines is a sufficient way to put an end to the pandemic, Delta’s deadline decision seems slightly last minute and some students feel that the deadline is rushed.
Students not vaccinated by the deadline will not be able to register for on-campus classes when registration for the spring begins. This important news hasn’t made its way to a majority of the students until recently, though, leaving many of them unaware or newly aware of a mandate that goes into effect in less than a week from now.
Making vaccines mandatory is definitely a positive step towards flattening the curve, but it would be more efficient if this deadline was pushed back a bit so students would have more time to prepare and receive both of their vaccine shots.
“I think it (the vaccine deadline) should be somewhere around late November,” said Lynda Morales, a second-year student. “October seems a bit too rushed, especially since there are some students that are just starting late classes.”
She does, however, agree with the mandate.
“I feel like mandating vaccines is something that we should be doing to keep the vulnerable population safe,” she said.
Second-year student, Nuna Abledu, also believes this new mandate, “is very last minute.”
She agrees with it though, saying that she does plan on getting vaccinated. “I work on the Delta counseling staff and we have to get a covid test twice a week if we’re not vaccinated and that’s something I don’t really enjoy doing, so I do plan on getting vaccinated,” she said.
However, she isn’t sure if she will make the Oct. 15 deadline in time, along with other students.
The Board of Trustees also made the decision that if, for religious or medical reasons, a student can’t take the vaccine, they would have to get Covid tested twice a week if they wanted to attend in-person classes next semester. Covid testing will be available on campus.
Online classes may sound more enticing than getting a swab shoved up your nose twice a week.
“Getting tested twice a week seems too extensive because it does hurt,” Abledu said.
It is possible that purposely making the testing process burdensome will make students lean towards just taking the vaccine instead.
First year student, Hamza Awan, doesn’t care too much about the vaccine mandate, or the Covid-19 virus for that matter.
“I don’t care about it. I’ve just never really cared about the virus so it’s just not really a big deal to me,” Awan said. “I’ve read that it (the vaccine) is not helping, but some people are saying it is helping so I don’t really know, but if it does help that’s cool I guess.”
He does, however, want to return to campus next semester since he just recently received his first vaccine dose, but he is worried he may not make the deadline of Oct. 15 in time, like many others.
“I feel like it’s too soon, it was rushed for sure,” he said. “I can’t register for classes until I’m fully vaxxed. I’m kind of stuck in the middle right now.”