A congressman is calling for the immediate end of COVID-19 shot mandates at colleges nationwide, citing the policy as discriminatory.
Congressman Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) called the practice “discrimination” that is “unfair, unjust, and unnecessary,” writing in a letter dated March 13 that with the COVID-19 emergency having ended nearly a year ago, it is time for universities to drop the antiquated policy.
“It’s been almost a year since the President signed H.Res. 7, which Congress passed with bipartisan support ending the COVID-19 national emergency on April 10, 2023,” wrote Mr. Kiley in letters addressed individually to all the schools still requiring the shot for enrollment. “Your institution is among the last colleges/universities still mandating the vaccine.”
“Why are your students being rejected for a policy that has been dropped nationwide?” he added.
COVID-19 shot mandates continue to be in effect for students at 48 out of the top 800 colleges in the United States, according to recent data acquired by No College Mandates, which describes itself as a “group of concerned parents, doctors, nurses, professors, students, and other college stakeholders working towards the common goal of ending COVID-19 vaccine mandates.”
In continuing to require the COVID-19 shot, Mr. Kiley wrote that colleges are effectively penalizing students for their personal health decisions.
“It is time for your institution to move on and end this discrimination against students,” he wrote.
Mr. Kiley told the Epoch Times that he decided to personally reach out to the universities, almost all of which receive taxpayer funding, to advocate for students who don’t have a voice in their health autonomy.
“I think it’s just utterly unbelievable that any university can still have these mandates in place,” said Mr. Kiley. “Even Harvard has gotten rid of theirs and they have been the worst in many ways so the question remains how can these other institutions still continue with a mandate at this point in time?”
If a small number of universities continue to impose the mandate on their students, Congress has tools at its disposal, including withholding federal tax dollars, according to Mr. Kiley.
“I am on the committee of jurisdiction so we do have oversight responsibilities given the vast amount of funding that goes into higher education,” said Mr. Kiley. “I think there could be avenues we could pursue from a legislative perspective, including through funding, to see that we don’t have this kind of unscientific flaunting that lacks any hint of rational thought.”
The number of schools requiring the shot—as well as the number of Americans who believe it is both safe and effective—has fallen as the past two years have seen it become mired in controversy. More than 80 percent of Americans took the original COVID-19 shots after officials pledged that they would effectively prevent contraction and stop the spread of the disease. However, once it was revealed that the shots didn’t work as promised, interest in the subsequent booster decreased dramatically.
The shots could also be attributed to widespread reports of adverse health outcomes believed to have been caused by the therapies. According to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database, COVID-19 shots have been named the primary suspect in over 1.5 million adverse event reports. The numbers could be even higher. An FDA-funded study out of Harvard found that VAERS cases represent fewer than 1 percent of vaccine adverse events.
Schools that continue to mandate the shot have faced increased scrutiny from students and officials.
Earlier this month, New Jersey state Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, a Republican in the 13th District, called on Rutgers University to be stripped of state funding due to its continued mandate that staff and faculty be forced to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
“It is difficult to put into words just how absurd and irrational the vaccination policy is at Rutgers University,” Mr. O’Scanlon said in a statement. “The 2024-2025 semester is just around the corner and the administrators at Rutgers still insist that all students, faculty, and staff receive the COVID-19 vaccine—a policy that has no basis in science whatsoever. In fact, the entire policy is anti-science.
“Until Rutgers lifts the mandate, I’m calling for a cut in funding. And, students who are thinking about going to Rutgers, but are not going due to the vaccine mandate, should be able to apply for school aid to use at whatever institution they want,” he added.
Rutgers stated on its website that the policy has been implemented “to minimize COVID outbreaks” and “to prevent and reduce the risk of COVID transmission.”
New Jersey taxpayers currently pay for nearly one-fifth of Rutgers’s operating costs, deriving 19 percent of its revenue from state appropriations, according to the school.
Schools that refuse to end their COVID-19 shot mandate should continue to expect increased scrutiny, according to Mr. Kiley.
“If you are going to be one of the small handful of universities just flaunting how ignorant you are and expelling students for no rational reason, then that merits a response from those in a position to do something about it.”
