Students advocate for vaccinations as some hold out

As COVID-19 grips the state of Michigan worse than any other in the nation, health officials have called for a vaccine surge to reduce the spread. While this request has seemingly been rebuffed by the federal government, residents all around East Lansing are eager to return to normal, as various groups deal with their new normal in different ways.

According to Covid Act Now, Michigan ranks worst in the nation in terms of cases per capita, nearly twice as many as New Jersey, the second more severe. The spike comes from a combination of factors – increased movement around spring break and holidays, the dropping of personal precautions, and the prevalence of more contagious COVID-19 variants, according to experts including Linda Vail, director of the Ingham County Health Department.

Invaluable tools against the spread of COVID-19 are vaccines, which mostly prevent severe infection and death, while also possibly curbing transmission.

A recent study conducted by Beat the Virus and the Generation Lab found that 89% of surveyed college students are either ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ going to get vaccinated when it becomes available to them, while only 3% ‘definitely won’t.’

Estimates say that the crucial number of vaccinated individuals that will likely halt COVID is 70% to 80%. That is when herd immunity should kick in, according to Vail.

“People who are vaccinated create a ring of protection – no place for the virus to go – around the small population that is unvaccinated,” she said. “And to the extent that we do that, we eliminate any place for the virus to go. So we protect people that are not vaccinated by vaccinating around them, and that’s what herd immunity is.”

Some surveys nationally have raised doubts about when, or if, we may reach herd immunity, as around 1 in 4 Americans say that they don’t plan on getting vaccinated.

Jeremiah Marshall, a senior at Michigan State, says that he doesn’t plan on getting vaccinated for several reasons.

“They’ve said they went through an ongoing trial and error with the vaccine, but I personally don’t want to get it because there hasn’t been enough testing,” he said. “Even if they did 10 years worth of testing and they had 1,000 or 10,000 subjects, I still wouldn’t get the vaccine, primarily because I don’t believe in being experimented on, especially if it’s not aligned with my spirituality.” 

Phase III vaccine trials included between 30,000 and 40,000 volunteers each, depending on the manufacturer.

Marshall may also be referencing a disproven theory that receiving a COVID vaccine under the FDA’s emergency use authorization enrolls people in a medical trial to test the effects of the vaccine. This is untrue, according to PolitiFact.

Marshall continued, “I wouldn’t knock anybody for getting the vaccine, but at the same time I feel like it’s a factor of control. Later on down the line, they’re going to use the vaccine as a technique to limit people from going and doing different things and being socially accepted.” 

Marshall’s beliefs fall in line with the majority of college-aged vaccine skeptics. In the survey which found that 3% of college students said they were definitely not get the vaccine, researchers found that 71% of skeptics said “it’s still too untested,” while 29% indicated that they “don’t trust the scientists and government who made it.”

Vail explained vaccine skepticism and how holdouts tend to come around as the vaccination drive progresses. 

“They’ll find things happening like their vaccinated friends don’t have to quarantine, and they do. Their vaccinated friends can have social gatherings together without wearing masks,” she said. “There are going to be some things related to the return to normal, return to partying and social gatherings, and football games and basketball games, that people are going to see that being vaccinated is going to get us there.”

Marshall represents a dwindling minority of individuals who have elected not to getthe vaccine for various personal reasons – however, a vast majority of college students still say that they will take the vaccine as soon as it’s available.

Khushi Kapoor, a sophomore pre-med student, said she’s already received her vaccine and is eager for her classmates to get it when they can.

“I think the vaccine is completely safe. I don’t think that’s really something we need to worry about. All of the vaccines available right now have been FDA approved,” she said. “The COVID vaccine trials met all the same standards necessary to put out any vaccine in the past, and just because of how severe the COVID-19 crisis was, there were so many more people volunteering to be included in the clinical trials than ever before, which I think allowed scientists to move a little bit faster.”

Ambika Salwan, also a sophomore pre-med student, said she felt comfortable about the COVID vaccines.

“I don’t really have any doubts about the safety of the vaccine,” she said. “As we all saw a few months ago, all government officials started taking it, the president and all former presidents took it in public, so I don’t think safety’s a real concern.”

“I think the vaccine 100% outweighs the side effects of the vaccine and getting COVID,” Salwan continued. “I’m double vaccinated with Pfizer, and after my second dose, I did have really bad symptoms, but honestly I was just happy that the whole population is slowly getting vaccinated and that we can return back to normalcy”

In response to skeptics, Salwan said, “We’re all in this together, it’s a worldwide pandemic, the more people who get vaccinated, the less people that die globally. And there’s people around the world probably who are begging to get this vaccine so they can just save their lives, so if we’re in a place of privilege that we can get it, please take it, and anyone that can get it, please get it. 

Another vaccine-related issue that’s recently caused nationwide controversy is the idea of ‘vaccine passports’, a form of verification of immunization that private entities may be able to use to deny services to unvaccinated individuals. While the federal government has indicated that they don’t plan to regulate these proposed programs, some states have preemptively banned the practice under concerns of individual freedom.

IIngham Health Director Vail said she doesn’t necessarily see the need for vaccine passports on a local level.

“I think if enough people get vaccinated, it won’t be necessary. Again, if we reach that herd immunity, if we get to 80% of our population vaccinated, then there’s not going to be a significant need for it,” she said. “Really where you’re going to see that is in the private sector, so you’re going to see airlines saying, ‘where’s your proof of vaccination?’ So it’s going to be something that the private sector might end up doing.”

Vail also discussed the ICHD’s recently announced partnership with MSU to help get students vaccinated before the semester ends.

“I was in a meeting with the governor’s office, and I mentioned that before students left town, I’d love to get them a vaccine and hand them their suitcases, and get them onto 496 and say ‘bye’,” she said with a laugh. “I was kind of joking, but at the same time as we see the numbers right now, it’s fairly clear that we need to prioritize our 16 and over, and our 20-29 age groups, because that’s where the vast majority of our transmission is happening.”

The program will provide all students 18 years and older with a free Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine at the Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education just south of campus. The link to schedule appointments can be found here, and information regarding transport and off-campus vaccination opportunities is here.