Q: I do not want the vaccine but it's mandatory for in-person classes. Is my right to education & health protected?
Hey, I am from NYC, CUNY colleges are mandating vaccines to return to in-person classes. Online learning hinders my ability to perform well and isolation from a student environment is affecting my social skills and mentally challenging me. I am emotionally out of touch with the rest of the world and stuck in the house. I do not want to get a vaccine that isn't studied properly for its long-term effects, we are not sure if it prevents transmission (protecting others is the college's main goal). I am willing to get it when its long-term effects are published. I want my right to education and my right to my own health. Is there a law that protects this and can give me the ability to go back to class in person? As a healthy 20 year old I do not need the vaccine.
A: You're fighting a losing battle. The Supreme Court of the United States has, on multiple occasions, rejected challenges to NYC's vaccine mandate for municipal employees. A challenge to a mandate requiring CUNY students to be vaccinated for in-person learning would likely meet the same fate. Without going down the COVID rabbit hole, studies have shown the vaccine to be safe and effective, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/safety-of-vaccines.html
Steven Warren Smollens agrees with this answer
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