2108 Unscientific, Privacy Violating, Oppressive “Hope”
What follows is the text of a letter sent to a large private college known for its pre-med and science programs. The letter speaks for itself.
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On August 5, I was notified by my granddaughter that Hope College had notified her through email that students would now be required to be COVID vaccinated or face rigorous continuous hurtles in order to experience their education. I find this development to be disturbing on several levels.
First, and primarily, it is profoundly unscientific; this coming from an institution which claims to have a reputation for one of the premiere pre-medical programs. To say this is difficult for me given that my granddaughter would be a third generation Hope student and the daughter of a graduate in premed who came to the school with academic scholarships, carried three majors, and graduated with honors.
The survival rate of COVID, including the Delta variant, stands at over 99.5% over-all. For young adults who have no co-morbidities, the danger is miniscule to zero. Not only that, for most of the healthy who contract COVID, symptoms are normally no worse than a severe flu. In addition, there is growing literature citing deleterious effects of the vaccines over the long term to include heart inflammation, growing numbers of directly-related deaths, and the distinct danger of the vaccines exacerbating the potency of future Corona virus infections, possibly to devastating results. If even portions of the above information is accurate, it follows that Hope college is endangering students who have wisely chosen to deny the vaccinations until genuine long-term validated research deems them safe.
This leads to another concern which should be obvious to anyone concerned with violating HIPPA laws. Not only does Hope put students at risk through experimental vaccines, but to enforce this edict, students are required to divulge private health care information in order to present, what amounts to, their “health passport” status. The double standard is blatant and egregious.
A further ramification of Hope’s health passport-type enforcement is the direct violation of the constitutional liberty rights of students who have the guaranteed right to protect themselves as they see fit without sacrificing educational excellence. To claim that they are not being forced to participate because they have the opportunity to opt out in favor of enduring draconian requirements which are oppressive and, again, not based in latest COVID science, is hypocritical and is to create nothing less than two classes of students, thereby necessarily creating a classist system of discrimination. Such tactics may be commonly used by our government but that does not excuse a supposedly Christian private institution for subscribing to such abuses.
Additionally, this move defies sound thoughtful analysis. If the vaccines are so reliable and necessary for the preservation of the faculty and student body, the idea that the unvaccinated pose a danger to the vaccinated is on its face irrational. Those who are protected against the COVID threat, just as any threat in life, are, obviously, protected. This should not require emphasis, but unfortunately it does. The threat is nullified. There is no other option. However, if the vaccines do not offer such protection, they are then, in the nature of the case, without the necessary credentials to claim an efficacy which demands the denial of civil and privacy liberties of students, or anyone.
Finally, developing analyses are exposing the weaknesses of these vaccines. The rate of re-infections of COVID among fully vaccinated populations is growing by the day. That fact is, excuse the pun, the nail in the coffin for your overreach. In essence, Hope’s demands are exposing students to future significant damages to their health and well-being for the sake of an only partially effective solution to a problem which, by and large, does not threaten them. Such a move is unconscionable.
I am a full supporter of well-researched, solidly validated vaccines. These are not that. I also am supportive of those who choose to use the COVID vaccines. That is what personal responsibility and personal liberty is all about. Those values are endemic to God’s revelation throughout Scripture. They are fundamental to the exercise of God’s image in us and to Christ’s call on believers to shine forth that image.