Students for Agency penned a letter to Western University in London, Ontario, demanding it revoke its COVID-19 booster requirement and mask mandate. .“Since the announcement, we have had an overwhelming response from students as they have shared their concerns with us,” said Students for Agency in a Monday letter. .“This response demonstrates a distress amongst students which should not be ignored.” .Western announced on August 22 it will require students and staff to have taken a COVID-19 booster shot to come to campus, and they must be masked in classrooms and seminar rooms. .READ MORE: Ontario university enacts COVID-19 booster mandate, reinstates mask requirement.“While we can’t predict when the next wave of COVID-19 might come, we believe these measures will help us protect the in-person experience that Western is known for,” said Western provost and vice president Florentine Strzelczyk. .“We want to do everything we can to offer our students a great on-campus experience throughout the academic year.” .The letter said Western’s decision to implement a booster policy and mask mandate has “once again neglected to consider the costs of such a mandate.” Students have signed leases, made travel arrangements, taken out student loans, and forgone other educational and job prospects. .The letter went on to say there is a human cost to a booster policy, as racialized people have lower vaccination rates and will be disproportionately affected. It added that low-income students in London are affected because Western is the closest university. .Students for Agency said many students felt coerced to take two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. It said these concerns “should not be taken lightly as the current policy’s implications have the power to devastate students.” .The group alleged the number of students looking to leave Western and refund requests have gone up since the policies were announced. It said it wants to join all fellow students on campus this year, regardless of vaccine status. .The letter said the university can move forward as a united community without COVID-19 restrictions. It said other universities have ended their mandates. .It asked Western to “respect the agency of the student body and save the trust of your own student population by taking action.” .“End the mandates once and for all,” it said. .“Restore choice and dignity on campus.” .Infectious disease specialists Dr. Zain Chagla and Dr. Martha Fulford signed onto the letter, saying Western should not have a booster policy. .“Given the complex immunity landscape, the increasingly recognized harms for mandating boosters without significant benefit, it would be prudent to revise this policy, and instead focus on positive encouragement with upcoming vaccine campaigns,” said Chagla and Fulford. .“Access to post-secondary education is essential, particularly for at-risk communities, and hence, limitations of this access for a medical decision with limited, if any, benefit will simply introduce multiple harms.” .While booster doses are effective at preventing hospitalization and death in high-risk groups, they said there is time-limited protection lasting two to five months. Most university-age people have caught COVID-19, which they said means there should be robust immunity at Western. .A group of Western students took legal action against the school for imposing the booster requirement on August 27. .READ MORE: Western students sue university for COVID-19 booster policy.“You are inexplicably mandating a blanket medical treatment without any consideration of individual risk factors, natural immunity, or the ethics (or lack thereof) of coercing injections to receive educational services,” said Libertas Law lawyer Lisa Bildy. .“This is unconscionable.”
