Before the start of the fall 2021 semester, Syracuse University mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for its entire student population, with certain exceptions for medical and religious reasons. International students are also required to comply with this mandate. On the surface this makes sense, but there are factors that have complicated this seemingly equitable requirement.

SU only recognises the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization’s approved vaccines. This is problematic because a large number of international students at SU received vaccines that are approved and offered in their countries of origin, leaving international students with only one option — to get vaccinated on campus with another vaccine. 

The core problem with this system is there remains minimal data on the impact of receiving multiple vaccines from different providers. While there is enough data that shows it is safe to mix the AstraZeneca and the Pfizer vaccine, there is a dearth of mixing other vaccines, such as Covaxin — India’s vaccine — combined with Pfizer or Moderna. 

Further, students are required to sign up for the vaccine and, until they are vaccinated to SU’s standards, they are required to get tested weekly on campus. This is a fairly streamlined process: students present a worker at the site with their SUID, are directed to a semi-private area where they provide their saliva sample and leave it to be taken for testing. 

But this entails a high time investment for international students. It is a process that will take up between 15 – 20 minutes of a student’s day, which might not sound like a lot of time but accumulates into an unnecessary pressure on international students. 

Given that testing is only available at the Dome from Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesdays from noon to 7 p.m. and Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., it is an inconvenience for students to make time during their classes to get tested.

There are multiple options for how the university can solve this problem. SU could follow the lead of various other schools that are more accepting of other countries’ vaccines. Boston University and California State University (CSU) have both taken this approach. 

CSU defined their policy as “the working assumption currently is that if a student receives a vaccine that was authorized by a body similar to the FDA in their country of origin that would fulfill the requirement.” Boston University’s policy is very similar.

SU needs to be more flexible with international students by tailoring policies after individual considerations. For instance, Covaxin, the Indian vaccine which I received, is scheduled to receive WHO approval this week. It seems like a reasonable measure to allow students who have received this particular vaccine at least a week until the approval kicks in.

This would ensure students don’t have to mix vaccines, which could prove dangerous. The WHO’s chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, has warned against doing this, saying that “data from mix and match studies of different vaccines are awaited – immunogenicity and safety both need to be evaluated.” 

The university adopting these measures would not only ensure that the student body is protected but would also enable international students to have more flexibility while navigating vaccination and testing requirements.

Upasana Sharma, Graduate Student

CLARIFICATION: In a previous version of this post, the headline said SU should accept vaccines other than FDA-approved vaccines. SU also accepts WHO-approved vaccines.

Published on September 20, 2021 at 10:40 pm