Residence students should be seeing one more task on their list while preparing for the upcoming fall term: getting vaccinated. Unfortunately, Carleton University has not yet made this a necessity.
Some Canadian schools, including the University of Ottawa, University of Toronto and Western University have put vaccine requirements in place. Carleton should as well, for the safety of everyone on campus.
While students can and should be able to choose whether they receive a COVID-19 vaccine, they must also follow Carleton’s residence standards, which state “the well-being of the Residence community rests on the balance of the community’s ability to respect the needs of the individual, and the individual’s ability to respect the needs of the community.”
Last year, Carleton’s residence community faced numerous COVID-19 cases and even an outbreak in March 2021. This case count happened when students were only taking online classes. Now, with thousands of students returning to campus and potentially spreading new variants of COVID-19, Carleton must take extra steps to protect its residence students.
Residence life requires unavoidable close contact with others in common spaces due to communal eating areas and shared bathrooms. Vaccines, however, can mitigate the risk these spaces pose.
Students living in traditional residence buildings pay upwards of $11,000 per academic year to live, eat and work in a safe and welcoming environment. This environment can only be fostered when students are not afraid the others around them will be putting them at risk.
In requiring students in residence to be vaccinated, the school would face fewer on-campus outbreaks of COVID-19 and be better prepared to support those who do contract the virus.
The school must take all steps possible to keep students safe and that includes all steps to avoid the emotionally and physically demanding self-isolation periods for students we saw in the last academic year.
Carleton Residence should prioritize the safety it prides itself on, and protect students’ well-being by mandating vaccines.
Featured graphic from file.
