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ITHACA, New York, April 8, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Falling in line behind Rutgers University, Cornell University is mandating COVID-19 vaccination for all staff and students hoping to appear on campus in the upcoming autumn semester.
In a statement issued Friday by the university’s president, Martha E. Pollack, and provost, Michael I. Kotlikoff, they confirm Cornell’s intention that “vaccination for students returning to Ithaca, Geneva, and Cornell Tech campuses for the fall semester” will be mandatory.
The statement noted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent expansion of eligibility for receiving one of the currently available, experimental COVID-19 vaccines to 16-year-olds and above on Tuesday. The same day, the state of New York launched its “vaccine passport” scheme, enabling businesses in the state to require proof of vaccination and negative COVID test status before granting entry to their premises and conducting trade.
On the back of these developments, “it is likely that all members of our community will be able to obtain vaccination sometime this spring or summer,” Pollack wrote.
Pollack advised that exceptions to the vaccine requirement will be made for those with objections based on “medical and religious” grounds, which she sees as constituting a small minority of cases. “(The) expectation will be that our campuses and classrooms will overwhelmingly consist of vaccinated individuals,” she said, before claiming that widespread vaccination will be responsible for “greatly reducing the risk of infection for all.”
The Ivy League university will be closely scrutinizing the day-to-day progress of the virus on its campus with a view to achieving and monitoring herd immunity. To this end, students, faculty, and staff will be expected to update their vaccination status to the college’s own “COVID-19 proof of vaccination tool … once they have completed the dose schedule for their vaccination.”
According to Pollack, herd immunity is the ideal situation and will allow resumption of “classes normally taught in person … without any routinely scheduled online option.” Failing herd immunity status, Cornell will make a determination of high or low immunity based on the vaccination rate being higher or lower than 50 percent of staff, students, and faculty.
When more than 50 percent are vaccinated, but not so many to qualify for herd immunity, the university will require that “seating adjustments are made, and students and faculty wear standard quality masks.” If vaccinations are below 50 percent, the president announced that students “will begin the semester in de-densified classrooms (reduced numbers, presumably), with a mix of instruction modes similar to the current semester,” including in-person and online classes.
Notably, Pollack’s understanding of COVID-19 immunity is limited to vaccination against the virus and does not take into account natural immunity from prior exposure.
Cornell implementing four-stage ‘alert level’ system
In order to track the spread of the virus on Cornell’s campus, the university has created a “COVID-19 Tracking Dashboard” that details vaccination and testing data and calculates a color-coded “alert level” on the basis of the results.
The lowest of the four-stage system, green, also called “new normal,” indicates that “cases are rare, and transmission is controlled.” Though Cornell’s administration expects the vast majority of students to be vaccinated before the beginning of the autumn semester, the “new normal” will still require students to “practice everyday precautions: physical distancing, masks required, hand washing.”
Additionally, students will not be permitted to gather in groups of more than 10 people, visitors are banned, and travel is “strongly discouraged.”
One rung up is the yellow alert, or “low to moderate risk” stage. Under yellow conditions, all of the same regulations from the “new normal” apply, adding that students may be required to test for COVID more frequently and the on-campus population may have to be reduced.
Above yellow comes the orange alert, or “moderate risk” category, resulting from a perceived increase in the rate of transmission of the virus. At this stage, “additional steps will be taken to de-densify campus,” including “moving all classes online and requiring students to stay in their rooms or apartments, except to get food or go for testing,” and “prohibiting gatherings of any size – instructional or non-instructional – until transmission rates decrease.”
The final stage, predictably known as “red alert,” is a full campus “shutdown.” In such a case, “Classes are online only. Campus is restricted to essential operations; only residential students and employees needed to support residential students or essential research and clinical activities will be allowed on campus.”
Additionally, “On-campus students must remain in their rooms (except to receive meals or for testing) until such time as it is safe for them to return home. Provisions will be made for students who cannot safely return to their homes. Off-campus students in the Ithaca area are also asked to return to their permanent homes.”
Over 2,000 deaths linked to experimental coronavirus injections
Following Rutgers’ unprecedented vaccine mandate announcement last month, chief legal counsel at Children’s Health Defense, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., penned an acid letter to university president Jonathan Holloway reminding him that federal law prohibits the requirement to take any drugs approved under the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) “emergency use authorization” (EUA), such as the COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer, and most recently Johnson & Johnson:
“Federal law 21 U.S.C. § 360bbb-3(e)(1)(A)(ii)(III) requires that the person to whom an EUA vaccine is administered be advised, ‘of the option to accept or refuse administration of the product, of the consequences, if any, of refusing administration of the product, and of the alternatives to the product that are available and of their benefits and risks.”
Despite this clear stipulation, the past two weeks have seen a slew of universities in the United States announce new requirements for vaccination against the Wuhan coronavirus for both students and staff in order to return to full-time, on-campus education. Rutgers in New Jersey paved the way for Brown University (and Cornell), as well as Boston’s Northeastern University.
Notwithstanding the myriad ethical issues surrounding the manufacture and testing of the available experimental COVID-19 vaccines, not least of which is their connection to and furthering of abortion and the related industry, Catholic institutions, too, have thrown their hat into the forced vaccination ring. Notre Dame announced a COVID vaccine requirement Wednesday, with its president, Father John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., advocating for “a high rate of vaccination” as a “critical” component in returning the university to full operation. Jenkins further incentivized mass take-up of the abortion-tainted vaccines by offering to reduce awkward outdoor mask mandates and increasing the number of people permitted to gather outdoors socially from 10 people to 25.
The University of Notre Dame announces a vaccine requirement as a condition for enrollment, promises to accommodate “documented medical and religious exemptions.” pic.twitter.com/rrMtIOV5Xr
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) April 7, 2021
St. Edward’s Catholic University in Austin, Texas, published similar regulations.
As higher education outlets pursue more aggressive pro-COVID vaccination policies, evidence mounts to suggest that the experimental vaccines, currently approved under “emergency use authorization” only, are causing widespread harm, resulting in an ever-increasing death toll.
In the United States, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), documenting vaccine side-effect reports from December 14, 2020 until March 26, 2021, displays 50,861 adverse effect recordings after injection with either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID jabs. A total of 2,249 deaths were reported, as well as 911 “permanent disabilities” following vaccination, and 4,815 hospitalizations.
Given the observed side effects, a group of scientists has challenged the current CDC guidelines that suggest individuals who have already contracted the Wuhan virus ought still to be vaccinated with one of the experimental solutions. Some experts have even claimed that prior exposure to the virus can give rise to harmful effects and possibly death if subsequently injected with a COVID vaccine.