If you’re headed back to a university campus in Manitoba this fall, there’s a local organization hoping it’ll be mandatory for you to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 first.
Scott Forbes of the Manitoba Organization of Faculty Associations (MOFA) told Global News that he’d like to see mandatory vaccinations set up as a rule for all of the province’s post-secondary institutions, and that doing so shouldn’t present any legal employment issues.
MOFA, which is made up of representatives from the University of Winnipeg, University of Manitoba, Brandon University and Université de St. Boniface, passed a unanimous motion calling for the move.
“I’ve been reading, voraciously, legal opinions on this and it’s quite within the rights of governments and institutions to set restrictions based on public health considerations,” Forbes said.
Forbes said more than 400 colleges and universities south of the border have implemented similar rules, and that there are similar campaigns happening in Ontario, with the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association calling for a vaccine mandate, and Seneca College the first Canadian college to require vaccinations for all in-person activities.
Seneca’s president, David Agnew, told Global News earlier this month that the decision to restrict admission to vaccinated students and staff was an obvious decision in light of the pandemic.
“As we’re able to come back more and reopen more, it just seemed honestly like the right thing to do and the logical thing to do given how much emphasis both our government but also, of course, more importantly probably, our public health leaders are putting on getting the vaccines,” he said.
“We’re not forcing anybody, actually. We actually not making vaccines mandatory. We’re saying if you want to come on campus, you must be vaccinated.”
Forbes said the vaccine requirements shouldn’t be much of an issue in this province, given that Manitobans have had experience — at least until the forthcoming changes to public health restrictions this weekend — needing shots to attend restaurants indoors, or movie theatres.
“In a university classroom, you go to one classroom, and then 15 minutes later you go to another one, and then 15 minutes later you go to another one,” he said.
“I would argue that movie theatres have substantially better ventilation systems than the antiquated HVAC systems at most of our universities with decades-old buildings.”
The University of Manitoba’s Jason Kindrachuk, an assistant professor of viral pathogenesis, said the success of vaccines against COVID-19 means it’s a reasonable precaution for schools to take.
“MOFA’s call for mandatory vaccination follows the resounding success vaccinations have had in our fight against COVID-19,” he said.
“I hope that by calling for this approach with time before the beginning of the term that our administrations and provincial government can take a science-based approach as they support of universities in the return to in-person learning.”
MOFA said there are still wrinkles that need to be ironed out with their proposal, including the need for plans for those who are medically unable to get the shot, as well as a grace period for international students who may not have had the opportunity yet.