With FDA Approval Of Pfizer Vaccine Imminent, Universities Are Ramping Up The Mandates - Forbes

With multiple news outlets reporting that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to approve Pfizer-BioNTech’s two-dose Covid-19 vaccine this week - perhaps as early as Monday - several universities are announcing they will implement vaccination mandates for their students, faculty and staff as soon as the approval is finalized.

Others have indicted that once FDA approval is in place for at least one vaccine, they will revisit their current policies, possibly implementing mandates they’ve resisted up until now. (Moderna’s application for full approval for its vaccine is still under review, but a decision on it also could be handed down in a few weeks.)

The absence of formal FDA approval for a Covid-19 vaccine has been a stumbling block for some campus leaders for at least two reasons. First, they’ve feared that without such approval vaccine-hesitant individuals or state officials might have a better chance at successful legal challenges to a campus vaccine requirement. And second, they’ve not wanted to antagonize those campus constituents who have expressed concerns about having to receive a vaccine that was officially authorized for emergency use only.

Among the universities recently announcing that a vaccine mandate will be put in place after formal FDA approval is granted is the University of Memphis, whose president, M. David Rudd, was quoted in the Memphis Commercial Appeal as saying, "Once the CDC provides full authorization, as is the case for the other vaccines, we will absolutely pursue (mandating COVID vaccines). My guess is once (full approval) occurs, it will be more difficult at the legislative level to disallow mandatory vaccinations simply because we have mandatory vaccinations in a number of areas."

Rudd added, “If in fact the vaccine is authorized within the coming week, we will be pursuing the issue, in coordination with the state immediately."

In Louisiana, which has seen a particularly deadly surge of the coronavirus in recent weeks, both Governor John Bel Edwards and university leaders indicated they would impose vaccination requirements as soon as the FDA took final action.

Louisiana State University President William Tate said that LSU would move "swiftly" to mandate Covid-19 vaccinations following full FDA authorization. Administrators at other institutions in the state - including the University of Louisiana - Lafayette - have issued similar statements. Last week, UL - Lafayette updated its Covid-19 protocol with the following:

“We expect the Food and Drug Administration to approve one or more COVID-19 vaccines soon. Once this happens, the University of Louisiana System will require all students be vaccinated. The University strongly encourages students to get vaccinated now in anticipation of the FDA’s approval.”

Among other universities that have premised or strengthened their mandates contingent on the anticipated FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine are the University of Minnesota and Washington State University.

Pressure on university leaders for mandated vaccinations is mounting from several directions. Faculty are growing increasingly impatient with administrators who will not impose such requirements. Students are making the case for vaccinations with their peers.

And public health officials are calling for more mandates after the FDA acts. For example, Dr. Anthony Fauci recently told USA TODAY's Editorial Board "Organizations, enterprises, universities, colleges that have been reluctant to mandate at the local level will feel much more confident. They can say: 'If you want to come to this college or this university, you've got to get vaccinated. If you want to work in this plant, you have to get vaccinated. If you want to work in this enterprise, you've got to get vaccinated. If you want to work in this hospital, you've got to get vaccinated.'"

Also last week, the COVID Collaborative, a group of more than three dozen public health and science experts, officials from both political parties, and higher education leaders wrote a letter to college administrators asking them “to join us in taking further steps to maintain public health and safety, prevent spread, and keep your institutions open for student learning. We are asking you to require vaccination. A vaccination requirement is the best way to protect students, faculty, staff and the community around your campus.”

More than 700 American colleges and universities have now imposed a vaccine requirement. With the Delta variant of the virus still wreaking deadly havoc across the nation, threatening more disruptions to campus operations just as the fall semester begins, look for that number to grow substantially when the first vaccine moves from emergency use authorization to its much- anticipated full FDA approval.

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With FDA Approval Of Pfizer Vaccine Imminent, Universities Are Ramping Up The Mandates - Forbes
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