MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The WVU Faculty Assembly has passed a resolution calling for a campus-wide coronavirus vaccine mandate by a wide margin.
The final vote, announced Friday morning, was 1,094 to 185. The resolution is non-binding and a recommendation to the WVU Board of Governors.
Despite the vote, it appears the WVU administration isn’t likely to change the current guidelines.
“We always appreciate and consider input from our campus community. Ultimately it is an administrative decision made in consultation with our Board of Governors,” a Friday statement said. “We took a proactive stance by announcing additional measures on Aug. 17, anticipating an 80% vaccination verification rate would likely not be achieved by Sept. 1.”
WVU said Friday the vaccination rate among faculty is currently 73.46% and among students it’s 75.91%.
“We are encouraged by the steadily increasing vaccination rates among our students, faculty and staff with our current approach, and importantly, the University’s percent positivity rate is low especially when compared to state and national averages,” the university’s statement said.
During a three-hour meeting Thursday, Professor, Clinical Pharmacy Marie Abate said university leadership should take steps to ensure the semester will not be interrupted and the members of the campus community are taking the proper steps to protect each other.
“The vaccine should be mandated, there comes a point in time at which the needs of many out weigh the desires of the few,” Abate said. “A person can drink alcohol or smoke, But for public health, we laws to prevent drunk driving or forcing others to inhale smoke.”
Abate also pointed out the potential impact if an outbreak on campus were to occur.
“Why do we need a mandate? A person with COVID can endanger or kill others around even if they have little or no effect from the virus and if a person becomes ill and needs treatment it negatively impacts our healthcare system.”
The assembly defeated an amendment that would have established an antibody testing program for people who have had the virus. Studies have shown people who have recovered from coronavirus have natural immunity and don’t need the shot. However, the validity of the study that produced the data was called into question.
Brian Powell, teaching assistant professor in the Lane Department of Computer Science, cited a CDC study that was done in Kentucky to make the point.
“They found that people who were unvaccinated and relied on natural immunity were twice as likely to be reinfected as people who got vaccinated,” Powell said.
Most members of the faculty favored the vaccine mandate over a testing program with results some members had no confidence in.
“Vaccination is easy to go through and check and document and it’s more effective, we shouldn’t be messing around here we want the most effective protection possible,” Powell said.
Associate Professor of Chemistry Blake Mertz wanted to pursue the testing program because it could provide useful antibody data. Mertz also told assembly members he spent four weeks recovering from COVID and wouldn’t want to be mandated to take the shot if he didn’t need it.
“Even though it may be more complicated to implement as far as an amendment and tracking,” Mertz said. “It’s worth it because it’s a piece of positive data we can use to track our path forward instead of just using a hammer hitting a nail approach.”
WVU said it would continue to monitor conditions and “strongly encourage students, faculty and staff to be vaccinated and wear masks where required.