by James A. Bacon
Megan Darling, a 33-year-old George Mason University business school student, received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine in March and April and came down with a case of COVID-19 in December 2021, from which she acquired natural immunity as well. Like other students, she has been informed that she must get the booster shot if she wants to continue her studies at GMU.
(As a student, Darling is not affected by Governor Glenn Youngkin’s ban on vaccination mandates for state and public university employees. Attorney General Jason Miyares has issued an advisory opinion stating that public colleges and universities do not have the legal authority to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for students, but there is no indication yet whether GMU will accept his interpretation.)
Darling, a former army medic, is the mother of a three-year-old child and plans to have more children. She experienced menstrual changes after receiving the Pfizer doses, and she’s concerned by the lack of data surrounding the effects of the booster on women’s reproductive systems. She wants to make her own decisions about her medical care.
Robert Fellner is a 37-year-old student at GMU’s Antonin Scalia Law School. He was double-vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine. On the basis of his personal research, he does not believe that a booster is in his best interests — young men are at modest risk of myocarditis — and he strongly objects to being coerced into receiving one.
Both have appealed to the GMU administration to no effect.
In January, an individual writing on behalf of Rector James W. Hazel dismissed Fellner’s concerns, according to the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), which has taken up their cause. The Hazel letter maintained that the Centers for Disease Control recommends boosters for everyone and admonished him that “you and I are not public health experts.” If Fellner did not like the policy, he had the option of attending law school elsewhere.
The NCLA lays out its legal case in a letter to Hazel, GMU President Gregory Washington, and other GMU officials. The letter cites the growing literature regarding the relative benefits and risks regarding vaccinations, boosters, and acquired immunity. States the letter, dated January 28:
As [Fellner and Darling] are both vaccinated, Mrs. Darling has recently recovered from COVID-19, and the vaccines are ineffective at stopping transmission, GMU has no interest — let alone a compelling one — in coercing them into receiving a booster or expelling them from the university they have invested time and resources….
In a civilized, democratic society, we recognize that individuals possess a right to make cost-benefit analyses for themselves, and not have their lives governed by the ‘recommendations’ of an agency operated by unelected officials, especially when those ‘recommendations’ cannot be challenged in court because they do not carry the force of law.
Bacon’s bottom line: I haven’t heard of a study published by anyone anywhere that doesn’t acknowledge that COVID vaccination + naturally-acquired immunity is about as good as it gets for conferring resistance to the virus. Now that’s not good enough.
I’ve been a good boy all epidemic long, getting my double vaccination and then getting my booster. But when I see cases like Darling’s — double vaxxed, natural immunity, reasonable concerns about her fertility and still facing the prospect of suspension or expulsion — I conclude that university mandates are not about public health anymore. GMU policy is all about compliance. The minions must bend the knee.
No wonder the minions are rebelling.
