Some American University students say they will get vaccinated against the coronavirus and the flu this winter, but have varying reasons for doing so.
Over four years since the COVID-19 pandemic hit cities and college campuses across the world, false rhetoric continues to spread about COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated information on its webpage this October to encourage children and adults to get a COVID-19 booster as new strains of the virus emerge. However, some students fear President-elect Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services as secretary could harm vaccination efforts.
Maya Kaufman, a sophomore at the School of International Service, said that she was raised in a “non-religious household” and that scientific information holds a lot of value in her family, shaping her opinions toward vaccinations.
“I'm totally knocked out by COVID booster shots but I still do it because I think it is important,” Kaufman said. “It has taken decades upon decades for a lot of vaccines to be developed and we got a vaccine for COVID very quickly so I think that people need to take advantage of that to help continue to contain it.”
Similarly, Melissa Patten, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, is a public health major and her mother is a nurse. Patten said that both have influenced why she is a “firm believer” in getting vaccinated this season.
“I think everybody should get vaccinated against COVID since it’s as simple as getting the flu shot — which I think everybody should also get,” Patten said. “Do your research and understand that COVID is a bigger issue and the only reason why we were able to end the pandemic quickly is because of vaccinations.”
COVID-19 has become a “deeply politicized” issue, said Lexington Allen, a junior in SIS, sharing his issue with Kennedy being picked to lead HHS.
Kennedy, a known skeptic of vaccines, founded the anti-vaccine nonprofit group Children’s Health Defense. Many public health experts have raised alarm bells over this potential appointment.
“The fact that RFK Jr. has such extreme opinions against vaccines really concerns me because [HHS] is now going to have less support for COVID care and prevention than before,” Allen said. “It really scares me that a Trump-led administration has consistently denied the existence of the pandemic and prevention toward another.”
Kennedy is “not interested in following the science,” said CM Heinrich, a senior and double major in public health and health promotion. Heinrich said one of their primary concerns is that, despite comments from Kennedy that he would not take away vaccines, he won’t “stick” to his words. Heinrich said with other respiratory viruses and monkeypox spreading now and in the future, in addition to COVID-19, they believe there could have been “more qualified individuals” nominated for the HHS Secretary position.
Heinrich added that conversations within their public health classes and the field writ large revolve around a lack of pandemic preparedness under a second Trump Administration and a Kennedy-led HHS.
“We're not set up to handle another virus of that magnitude, regardless of how it spreads,” Heinrich said. “The biggest thing that worked out for COVID is that we were able to very quickly get a new vaccine made and it was revolutionary.”
Heinrich explained that during the creation of the COVID-19 vaccine, there was a use of high-end, new technology and the ability to work through a “very effective and safe” vaccine approval process. As a result, vaccines were distributed in the U.S. quickly to meet the emergency demand. Their concern is what could happen with future vaccine creation.
“I’ve seen that RFK has been adamant about trying to lengthen the process and do more testing,” Heinrich said. “And in theory, that's a good idea, but we already have very good standards for vaccine safety and I think we’re kind of going to see progress being slowed in that regard.”
“Getting vaccinated against even something like the flu is important and it provides herd immunity” Heinrich added. “Getting vaccinated helps society because it means that we are not able to get infected as easily or not going to infect [immunocompromised] people easily.”
Allen said that if his doctor approves it, he will receive the COVID-19 vaccine this year because vaccinating against it is a necessity for him. Allen said that he continues to wear a mask while in classes because he understands how complex COVID-19 has become.
“I am disabled and immunocompromised, so for me, vaccines are a very important way to make sure I don't go to the hospital,” Allen said. “It's complicated because, on one hand, COVID is becoming less deadly, but it’s also becoming more transmissible. I think COVID is still a very disabling illness and can cause long COVID side effects.”
Kennedy made a speech at a ‘Latino Town Hall’ event this past June where he said people who take stimulant drugs or antidepressants could choose to go to “wellness farms” if they want.
Lily Tierney, a senior in the School of Communication, said that she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and takes medication to help manage it. ADHD medications such as Adderall are classified as stimulant drugs. Tierney said that Kennedy’s rhetoric “scares” her because it reflects how he may run HHS if he is confirmed as the next secretary.
“I am extraordinarily fearful, but one of the main things that scares me is the fact that he wants to put people who take stimulants in camps,” Tierney said. “RFK Jr. is someone who’s such a denier of real scientific things like vaccines and he terrifies me all around.”
Students interested in receiving the flu or COVID-19 vaccines can do so at the Student Health Center, and at locations near campus such as the CVS Minute Clinic in Tenleytown and the Walgreens on New Mexico Avenue.
This article was edited by Samantha Skolnick, Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Ella Rousseau, Ariana Kavoossi and Sabine Kanter-Huchting. Fact checking done by Luna Jinks and Hannah Paisley Zoulek.
