Dennis Michael Busch - Official Website
By Dennis Busch, collective opinion of the
University Journal Editorial Board
EDITORIAL: H1N1 policy lacks fairness
On Tuesday, SUU announced that H1N1 vaccines would be available to SUU students, but those students who live in university housing would have first priority for the vaccine, after which it would be available to the entire student body.
SUU and the Southwest Utah Public Health Department have partnered to promote public health and offer vaccines to high-risk age groups that many college students fall into.
We applaud their joint efforts to keep SUU students protected from this pandemic.
However, the University Journal Editorial Board thinks that this method of prioritizing students is unfair to students who do not live on campus.
SUU made the decision to first offer the vaccine to residential students, and later to non-residential students in consultation with the SUPHD, who has provided the vaccine to SUU for free.
The University of Utah, the state’s largest institution of higher education, is also distributing vaccine but did not give housing students a priority over other high-risk groups.
Though this decision to offer the vaccine to on-campus residents first was made by a university committee with the best interests of the institution in mind, we think this method is unfair to the average student at SUU.
If their decision to offer a priority to some was based on age, health or other risk factors that the health industry has set, that would be different case.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that in the event of a residential student getting the H1N1 virus, they should move home if possible, or at the very least be isolated, but the center gives no recommendation for priority amongst residential versus non-residential students.
One close-quartered living facilities, such as the Missionary Training Center in Provo have focused on isolating sick people rather than demanding vaccinations before entry.
We understand that SUU has certain obligations and a higher duty of care to those who live in their residential facilities.
They must try to ensure that those in residence halls are kept relatively healthy and safe, but it should not be done at the potential expense of the rest of the student body.
The students who live in large housing facilities off campus are at similar or lower risk of spreading the disease to fellow residents, yet they did not receive any priority along with those on campus.
As the landlord of on-campus residents, SUU has given a special advantage to their residents that no other company can do for free.
Off-campus housing companies are not eligible to receive free vaccine from SUPHD that is intended for general public health as SUU can.
The priority period for SUU housing students was 24 hours and the Vice President for Student Services Office reported that 484 residential students took advantage.
Since then, the number of students on the list for vaccines has climbed to 979 as of 5 p.m. Friday.
There is still opportunity until noon today to get on the list for a vaccine.
All students may request a vaccine via the SUU Student Health Clinic Web site, www.suu.edu/ss/studenthealth/h1n1/signup.html.
There is still no confirmation on how many vaccines will be given to SUU.
The federal government has announced that it has purchased 250 million doses of the vaccine and in the future they will be more readily available to Americans who want them.
SUU students are lucky to have these vaccines available on our campus, whatever the number of doses we receive.
The Journal appreciates the collaborative effort of SUU administrators and the health department to help keep SUU students protected, but in the future, we hope that all students will have an equal chance to protect themselves agains the virus.
SUU and the Southwest Utah Public Health Department have partnered to promote public health and offer vaccines to high-risk age groups that many college students fall into.
We applaud their joint efforts to keep SUU students protected from this pandemic.
However, the University Journal Editorial Board thinks that this method of prioritizing students is unfair to students who do not live on campus.
SUU made the decision to first offer the vaccine to residential students, and later to non-residential students in consultation with the SUPHD, who has provided the vaccine to SUU for free.
The University of Utah, the state’s largest institution of higher education, is also distributing vaccine but did not give housing students a priority over other high-risk groups.
Though this decision to offer the vaccine to on-campus residents first was made by a university committee with the best interests of the institution in mind, we think this method is unfair to the average student at SUU.
If their decision to offer a priority to some was based on age, health or other risk factors that the health industry has set, that would be different case.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that in the event of a residential student getting the H1N1 virus, they should move home if possible, or at the very least be isolated, but the center gives no recommendation for priority amongst residential versus non-residential students.
One close-quartered living facilities, such as the Missionary Training Center in Provo have focused on isolating sick people rather than demanding vaccinations before entry.
We understand that SUU has certain obligations and a higher duty of care to those who live in their residential facilities.
They must try to ensure that those in residence halls are kept relatively healthy and safe, but it should not be done at the potential expense of the rest of the student body.
The students who live in large housing facilities off campus are at similar or lower risk of spreading the disease to fellow residents, yet they did not receive any priority along with those on campus.
As the landlord of on-campus residents, SUU has given a special advantage to their residents that no other company can do for free.
Off-campus housing companies are not eligible to receive free vaccine from SUPHD that is intended for general public health as SUU can.
The priority period for SUU housing students was 24 hours and the Vice President for Student Services Office reported that 484 residential students took advantage.
Since then, the number of students on the list for vaccines has climbed to 979 as of 5 p.m. Friday.
There is still opportunity until noon today to get on the list for a vaccine.
All students may request a vaccine via the SUU Student Health Clinic Web site, www.suu.edu/ss/studenthealth/h1n1/signup.html.
There is still no confirmation on how many vaccines will be given to SUU.
The federal government has announced that it has purchased 250 million doses of the vaccine and in the future they will be more readily available to Americans who want them.
SUU students are lucky to have these vaccines available on our campus, whatever the number of doses we receive.
The Journal appreciates the collaborative effort of SUU administrators and the health department to help keep SUU students protected, but in the future, we hope that all students will have an equal chance to protect themselves agains the virus.
© 2009 Dennis Busch, University Journal
