Elizabeth Walker, Campus Carrier Reporter
A common misconception about college admission vaccine requirements is that college students may not decline any vaccines. Exemption provisions are often missing from many college’s admissions forms or are not clearly stated in school manuals. It is important for every student to be aware of the laws and rules in regards to vaccines and religious exemptions.
Over the years vaccines have been used to help prevent outbreaks of epidemics and diseases and can be effective enough to save people’s lives.
Vaccines work in a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a disease, ultimately protecting that person from that disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“The idea is to promote optimum health in all individuals,” Anita Errickson, director of the Health and Wellness Center, said. “Vaccines are recognized as the best method for preventing or minimizing a number of illnesses.”
The importance of getting vaccinated should not be overlooked.
“Even students who have great immune systems are exposed to a lot more germs when they live in dorm housing, and the stress of college demands can lower immunity,” said senior April Hearn, a nursing major.
As there are no vaccines required by law for admission to colleges and universities, university and college policies on vaccination requirements vary greatly.
Each college or university sets their own requirements for their students. These requirements usually follow a set of guidelines like those provided by the American College Health Association (ACHA), the CDC or both. According to the National Vaccine Information Center, the Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia develops and implements immunization policy for public colleges and universities. In Georgia, private colleges develop and implement immunization policies individually for their campuses.
Errickson said Berry follows the ACHA model. The American College Health Association serves as a prominent leadership organization for working with the health of college students and campus communities and works in the areas of advocacy, education and research.
Errickson said that the vaccination requirements at Berry include two measles, mumps and rubella vaccines; a tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis combination vaccine; a tuberculosis screen with testing, if indicated; and Meningococcal required, and recommended: HPV, HEP A and B, and influenza.
A large motivation behind requiring students to be vaccinated before they come to college is to help create “herd immunity.” If most members of a community are protected against a disease, there will be a smaller chance of an outbreak occurring. The percentage of the population that must be immunized to create herd immunity is different for every disease, but the purpose is the same. Once enough people are protected, they will help keep a disease from spreading to other members of the community who were not immunized, whether for personal or religious reasons.
“Depending on the individual immune systems of the people on campus, the nature of the exposure and the virulence of the infectious process in question, it would be too variable to predict,” Errickson said.
The importance of herd immunity should not be overlooked, especially on a college campus.
“There are a number of infectious illnesses that are highly communicable and those who live in close communities such as in a college campus provide a rich opportunity for such infections to flourish,” Errickson said.
Vaccinations in a college setting have a high importance due to the ease of disease spread in close quarters.