Mandating vaccines at universities could set dangerous precedent, says bioethicist
Western University has said students in residence must get vaccinated before living on campus
A Montreal bioethicist says Western University's plan to make vaccines mandatory for students living in residence is ethically problematic, because it's a form of discrimination.
"One of the key principles of public health ethics is proportionality; you want to ensure that public health measures have benefits that outweigh the burdens you're creating, that the risks are justified," said Vardit Ravitsky, a professor at the University of Montreal and president of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation's COVID-19 Impact Committee.
"If you're blocking the access of someone to a concert or a restaurant, that's one thing," she told The Current's Matt Galloway. "But here we're talking about education. We're talking about getting your degree. So if you're blocking access … the risk is very serious."
On Thursday, Western University announced that students planning to live in the London, Ont., school's residences will need to have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine before they arrive on campus. The rule will also apply to students at its affiliated university colleges: Brescia, Huron and King's.
As <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WesternU?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WesternU</a> prepares for a return to in-person classes this fall, the university will require students in residence to have received at least a first dose of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> vaccine, a move endorsed by <a href="https://twitter.com/MLHealthUnit?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MLHealthUnit</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/takecarewesternu?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#takecarewesternu</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cdnpse?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#cdnpse</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/onpse?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#onpse</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ldnont?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ldnont</a> <a href="https://t.co/7bBhYCvdEt">https://t.co/7bBhYCvdEt</a>
—@WesternUStudents who are unable to get their shot before arriving at Western will have 14 days after their move-in date to get vaccinated on campus, according to a news release from the university.
The university is also encouraging other students and staff to get vaccinated as soon as they can. Western plans to continue with other health measures in preparation for a possible return to in-person classes this fall, including mask-wearing, enhanced cleaning and ventilation in buildings, an on-campus testing and vaccination centre, and physical distancing, the news release said.
Alan Shepard, Western University's president and vice-chancellor, told Galloway that the decision to mandate vaccines among students in residence was made because there were a disproportionate number of COVID-19 infections in residences last year.
The school consulted its legal team and public health experts about the decision, he added. While they don't believe Canadian law allows Western University to mandate vaccines among all staff and students, "it does allow us to insist on it if people want to live in our residence," Shepard said.
"We do think it will make it safer, for sure, for those living in residence," he said. "And we hope it will also encourage everyone else who's either coming to Western as a student, or working here, to be vaccinated."
Look for alternative measures, says Ravitsky
As other universities and institutions across Canada prepare to tentatively reopen sometime this year, Ravitsky said they should avoid relying solely on vaccinations in order to keep people safe.
Universities should also continue with mask mandates, physical distancing, provide rapid testing, and offer support to international students who may not be able to get vaccinated in their home countries before arriving in Canada, Ravitsky suggested.
"The way to look at it is, before I infringe [on] someone's liberty, what alternatives do I have?" she said. "And here in the context of requiring vaccines, we do have alternatives."
Whether or not other workplaces and organizations will require people to be vaccinated is yet to be seen. But Ravitsky said she believes it's a decision that should be left to governments, rather than the private sector, because it's an issue of equity.
Having a consistent government policy on vaccination could also help prevent lawsuits related to human rights violations, she said. While it could be justified to block unvaccinated people from restaurants, for example, "you don't want to create a situation where people lose their jobs and cannot get a university degree because of this," she explained.
But, ultimately, vaccine mandates like those at Western University should be short-term measure, because discrimination based on biological or medical criteria can set a dangerous precedent, Ravitsky said.
"Today, it's the COVID-unvaccinated. Tomorrow, this mechanism can be implemented against some other group that has some medical or biological feature," she explained.
"If we're looking at the ethics of this, if this measure is implemented, it has to be only in the context of the pandemic, and very temporary, so that it doesn't … become a habit of using such a measure in other contexts."
Written by Kirsten Fenn. Produced by Ben Jamieson, Niza Lyapa Nondoand Amanda Grant.
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