Penn State’s Questionable Approach to the Covid-19 Pandemic

Penn State’s Questionable Approach to the Covid-19 Pandemic
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Penn State’s Questionable Approach to the Covid-19 Pandemic
As one of the largest universities in the United States, Penn State’s apparent reluctance to institute a vaccination mandate puts the community, which it claims to serve, in harm’s way. It may come as a shock that one of the leading research universities in the nation is compromising the safety and wellbeing of its community. Still, such is the case for the beloved Pennsylvania State University. As colleges and universities approached the 2021 fall semester, over 700 institutions of higher learning in the country mandated the show of vaccination for all their students and staff CITATION Kel21 \l 1033 (Kellermann, 2021). It would only be reasonable for an institution ranked nationally among the top five colleges with the highest number of Covid-19 cases reported to follow suit and issue the same vaccination mandate. Tough the vaccination mandate approach against Covid-19 receives widespread from different stakeholders within and outside the institution, it is yet to be considered by the leadership. The number of Covid-19 cases in Penn State since the start of the global pandemic is over 9000, with two students dying from Covid-19 complications CITATION Kel21 \l 1033 (Kellermann, 2021). College campuses also serve as incubators for the increased spread of coronavirus in the community. Nevertheless, measures taken by Penn State in response to the Covid-19 pandemic only seem to betray its belief in service to the community as they only function to delay the victory against the virus and return to normalcy.
In a recent “town hall” convened by the university president, Penn State’s administration reiterated its questionable approach to the pandemic by encouraging students and staff members to embrace the voluntary vaccination drive. The administration supports and encourages faculty, staff, and students to voluntarily get the Covid-19 vaccination shot and share their status. In essence, no one at the institution is under any obligation from the administration to get the Covid-19 vaccine. Penn State only requires students and staff to take mandatory Covid-19 tests weekly and share their status for the necessary support. According to Penn State’s Covid-19 mandates for the fall semester, students who had not been vaccinated were subjected to Covid-19 tests before being allowed into their respective dormitories CITATION Pen21 \l 1033 (PennState, 2021). The unvaccinated students would further undergo weekly testing for Covid-19. Regular or weekly testing for Covid-19 among students across all the campuses serves to contain the virus’s spread within the campuses, thus making for a commendable approach....