Johns Hopkins University has ended its COVID-19 shot mandate for the majority of its students as an increasing number of schools across the country continue to drop the requirement that students be forced to take the controversial shot before enrolling. However, the school noted that “School of Medicine students, trainees, and employees continue to follow Johns Hopkins Medicine policies and are still required to submit COVID-19 vaccination documents.” No College Mandates co-founder Lucia Sinatra, which describes itself as a “group of concerned parents, doctors, nurses, professors, students, and other college stakeholders working towards the common goal of ending COVID-19 vaccine mandates,” told The Epoch Times the change is another indication that the country is moving in the right direction. “This is definitely another positive step towards health freedom,” Mrs. Sinatra said.“These schools are facing a lot of public pressure as it becomes increasingly difficult for them to continue to justify these mandates without looking like complete clowns.” However, Mrs. Sinatra called the policy change “bittersweet,” and was hopeful that all students at Johns Hopkins would be allowed to make the medical decisions they felt to be in their own personal best interest. “I can’t see it as a complete win,” said Mrs. Sinatra, who had hoped that after Harvard ended its mandate for all students earlier this month, other schools would quickly follow. “I had believed that since Harvard, which was the second school to announce mandates, had dropped its medical requirements for all students, that Johns Hopkins would follow, and that obviously didn’t happen yet,” said Mrs. Sinatra. “How does Harvard drop the mandates for all students, including medical students, but not Johns Hopkins?” she added. The number of schools requiring the shot—as well as the number of Americans who believe it is both safe and effective—has fallen as the past two years have seen the vaccine mired in controversy. More than 80 percent of Americans took the original COVID-19 shots after officials pledged that they would effectively prevent infection and stop the spread of the disease. However, once it was revealed that the shots didn’t work as promised, interest in the subsequent booster decreased dramatically. However, despite the number of schools that have already opted out, COVID-19 shot mandates continue to be in effect for students at 40 out of the top 800 colleges in the
United States, according to recent data acquired by No College Mandates. Some of the remaining schools that continue to mandate the shot have faced increased scrutiny from students and officials. Earlier this month, New Jersey state Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, a
Republican in the 13th District, called on Rutgers University to be stripped of state funding due to its continued mandate that staff and faculty be forced to take the COVID-19 vaccine. “It is difficult to put into words just how absurd and irrational the vaccination policy is at Rutgers University,” Mr. O’Scanlon said in a statement. “The 2024-2025 semester is just around the corner and the administrators at Rutgers still insist that all students, faculty, and staff receive the COVID-19 vaccine—a policy that has no basis in science whatsoever. In fact, the entire policy is anti-science. “Until Rutgers lifts the mandate, I’m calling for a cut in funding. And, students who are thinking about going to Rutgers, but are not going due to the vaccine mandate, should be able to apply for school aid to use at whatever institution they want,” he added. Rutgers stated on its website that the policy has been implemented “to minimize COVID outbreaks” and “to prevent and reduce the risk of COVID transmission.” Mrs. Sinatra believes that as the tide of public opinion continues to grow against the COVID-19 shot, that it is only a matter of time before every school in the country restores health autonomy to its students. “As more data comes out these schools look more and more ridiculous by the day,” said Mrs. Sinatra. “I would be shocked if they are not all over by fall enrollment except for health care students.” “Still, until all these schools drop their mandates and restore medical freedom to all of our students, our work is not done.”