Restore Medical Freedom for Ohlone College Students

Ohlone College Administrators,

While higher education and institutions throughout the world are dropping COVID-19 mandates, Ohlone College is mandating segregation of individuals by preventing students from attending in-person learning if they have secured a Religious Exemption. On its face, this breaks several federal laws, and you are opening yourself up to potential legal liability.

Facts are these COVID vaccines do not prevent transmission or infection, so claiming that the COVID-19 vaccine mandates are to “protect the community” are outright lies. Then the question is whom are these mandates protecting? Three years into the pandemic and it is clear that these draconian COVID measures only benefit authoritarians and biomedical industries.

Furthermore, UC & CSU universities welcome students with Religious Exemptions on campus without discrimination, and UCs now allow students to opt-out of booster mandates. In addition, this academic year, 19 of 54 California community colleges have dropped COVID-19 mandates. Nearby community colleges like Chabot-Las Positas College and Evergreen Valley College offer Religious Exemptions and require that all students be treated equally on campus. The most up-to-date CDC guidelines also specifically state that no entity should treat the unvaccinated differently than the vaccinated yet your COVID-19 vaccine policy completely ignores this recommendation.

Since minorities and women make up the majority of the student body at Ohlone College, this has the appearance of oppression, especially for students who are in need of free or low cost education. In pursuit of better lives through higher education, less fortunate minorities and women at Ohlone have to capitulate to mandates, while outside the Ohlone campus these same individuals and all others have the Personal Freedom to choose the medical treatments and other interventions that they need to protect themselves.

Recently, a New York judge ruled that NY State officials lacked the authority to impose the COVID-19 vaccine mandate on NY State Health Care workers, and the mandate is “null and void”, “arbitrary and capricious” as COVID-19 vaccines do not stop transmission.

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/press-release/breaking-chd-defeats-ny-state-healthcare-workers-covid-mandate/

Please REINSTATE In-Person Learning for students with Religious Exemptions, and most importantly, RESTORE Medical Freedom for ALL.

Thank you.