“Youth is harmed by having wisdom thrust upon it. Youth must gather wisdom slowly, in laughter and tears.”
Mrs Pat
In the vaccination policy FAQ on their official University website, Bucknell asserts that the vaccine offers the best opportunity for safety. This statement ignores 34 million Americans who have recovered from the infection and now have active, effective anti-bodies. Students with immunity as a result of infection is completely missing from Bucknell’s entire FAQ – there is not a single reference to anti-bodies, recovery, or immunity. The FAQ is myopically focused on the vaccine.
This myopia is concerning because the manufacturers of the two MRNA-based vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer, clearly recognize that recovered individuals are already protected and therefore do not need the vaccine. We know this by reading their Emergency Use Authorization request to the FDA. In both companies’ request documentation, they indicate during enrollment all 28,000 trial participants were screened for an existing covid infection via PCR test and a past covid infection and recovery with an antibody test. Both tests are authorized for use by the FDA for their indicated purpose. If a trial participant tested positive on either test – they were excluded from the clinical trial. Below is page 83 of the Moderna EUA.
In addition, the European Union recognizes recovered as equal to vaccinated in their green digital vaccine passports.
Accordingly, Bucknell should recognize recovered Covid-19 persons as equal to vaccinated persons, in line with the FDA and EU, because the vaccine triggers the same exact immune response in the human body as the virus itself by creating a spike protein that appears similar to the virus’s spike protein. Different trigger, same outcome – antibodies and immunity.
Bucknell asserts that the policy will continue until the pandemic passes. What quantitative criteria has Bucknell established to indicate when the danger will have passed? According to the PA Dept of Health Covid data, Union County where Bucknell is located has a grand total of 3 patients in the hospital with Covid. To be clear, this means that 3 patients are currently in the hospital, and they have tested positive for Covid. This does NOT mean the patient is in the hospital as a result of Covid infection. As the graph below clearly shows, hospital impact is near the lowest it has been.
The PA Dept of Health will have lifted every single Covid intervention as of June 28 because their data indicates the danger has passed. Why is Bucknell superseding PA state and CDC guidance? In the entire county of Union over the most recent 7 days, there were 6 cases, fewer than 1 case per day. Positivity rate is 1.1%
They assert that asymptomatic spread can occur and that creates an unsafe condition for students and staff. They do not provide any facts or citations for this assertion. On the counter, Dr. Fauci says otherwise, here. Not only does Dr. Fauci confirm asymptomatic spread is rare, even when it does occur it is not the primary driver of outbreaks. Quoting Dr. Fauci, he says “even if there is some asymptomatic transmission, in all the history of respiratory borne viruses of any type, asymptomatic transmission has never been the driver of outbreaks. The driver of outbreaks has always been a symptomatic person”. Infection is required for transmission. Any virologist or epidemiologist knows this. Without a covid infection, the human body is not replicating the virus in sufficient volume to transmit to others sufficient to cause an infection. No symptoms, no infection. No infection, no transmission. No transmission, no danger. These are the facts.
We also need to look at the success of past policies and inventions – did the predicted doom and gloom occur as anticipated? In the fall of 2020, the media was riddled with stories about college students traveling back and forth from campus, along with the fear of transmission. Did this happen? No. Data shows that college campuses were not vectors for spread, and while there were some cases reported, there were virtually no hospitalizations or severe outcomes in this age group or the community at large.
Bucknell asserts that it has the authority to mandate vaccination by comparing covid to other communicable diseases. According to the CDC’s annual mortality data, the seasonal influenza kills more college age kids annually than covid ever did or will. There is a biological reason for this. As explained here younger humans have fewer ACE2 receptors, which are the cell receptors that the SARS-CoV-2 virus binds to. No binding, no infection. No infection, no transmission. These are indisputable biological facts, which is why it is shocking that Bucknell ignores them.
By Aug 1, more than 70% of the adult population in the state of PA will be fully vaccinated. Who, exactly, is Bucknell trying to protect? For those who have recovered – about 10% of PA residents, they are already protected. And for the remaining 20%, they have willingly chosen to abstain from the vaccine, making a risk-based decision. Is Bucknell really compelling their entire student body to take an unapproved vaccine to protect 20% of the state population who have willingly decided not to take the vaccine? At least 92% of PA residents over the age of 65 have been fully vaccinated, and they are the age group most at risk. So again, who is Bucknell protecting with this mandate?
Bucknell, in their FAQ states The University will follow prevailing medical recommendations and state and federal guidelines”. Really? Both the CDC and PA Dept of Health have no mandates for vaccinating college students, so whose advice are they following?
Does Bucknell understand that a significant number of adverse reactions to the Covid vaccines have been reported to VAERS. In fact, the total number of reported COVID-19 ADRs exceeds the total number of all ADRs reported for all drugs, combined. This is significant.
The University’s explanation as to why staff are not subject to the vaccine requirement is arbitrary and capricious. Primary schools in PA are not a high-risk source of infections because younger people are not vectors for infection in the first place, regardless of where they congregate. Additionally, plenty of primary school teachers and staff have been infected with COVID, due to their age, not the location of infection.
Did Bucknell require extraordinary steps for students who were previously exempted from other vaccinations, such as the mandatory sequential testing, travel approval, and mandatory quarantining in university-provided isolation housing? They say this policy is an extension of existing student health and safety plans. It does not appear to be.
Bucknell states this is a policy. Did the Board of Directors approve this policy? Is it an actual written and approved policy available on their public website?
Bucknell, in its FAQ states, that students “make request a leave of absence until the community risk of COVID-19 is mitigated.” Yet Bucknell sails to offer proof that the risk is not already mitigated with current interventions expiring. The fact that the CDC and PA Dept of Health are lifting all remaining interventions are proof the danger has passed.
Let’s look at statistics around us. The entire population of Sweden’s primary school population has been educated this school year without vaccines and without masks, yet their covid outcomes were proportionally almost identical to the US.
Bucknell’s FAQ asserts that a 2nd dose confers “full immunity”. The vaccine is at best 95% effective; however, we know that Moderna and Pfizer have never nor are scheduled to conduct any challenge studies, obviating the proof necessary to understand if the vaccine actually prevents infection, or merely reduces serious infection as the EUAs indicate – by stating the primary endpoint of the vaccine is not reduction of spread or infection, but rather a reduction in severe symptoms, see EUA link above.
Finally, requiring all college students to receive the vaccine regardless of previous infection status is anti-science and ignores 34,000,000 Americans who have suffered from COVID-19, have recovered and now have active, effective antibodies. The vaccine manufacturers themselves excluded anyone with a previous history of COVID-19 infection. At a minimum, Bucknell should follow this sound medical advice; subjecting a student to a new immunity event after previous infection can lead to more severe adverse events, as this article explains.
Further, this Cleveland Clinic study of 56,000 participants confirmed no additional benefit of vaccination for recovered covid patients.
