According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, any private institution is within its legal rights to require its members to be vaccinated, and any local or state government is allowed to enforce a vaccine mandate as a result of the 1905 Supreme Court ruling Jacobson vs. Massachusetts. However, though most mandates are legally permissible, the ethical argument of a vaccine mandate is based upon shaky grounds. Claiming that  getting vaccinated is fulfilling your civic duty and  would benefit the overall health of a population does not produce sufficient reason to enforce said “civic duty” with a mandate. A requirement to receive a Covid vaccination would violate the individual bodily autonomy of students and faculty, disregard the fact that a totally-vaccinated population is not necessary, and create more backlash from those opposed to vaccination Therefore, it is unethical, unnecessary, and unpredictable to mandate Covid vaccinations for the Saint Ignatius student body.

The unalienable rights penned in our Constitution serve as a reminder of America’s intrinsic value of liberty. It is imperative, then, that this value is protected. Though the previously mentioned legality of mandates is attested to in many local and state regulations regarding vaccinations, it does not soundly validate the ethics on whether or not vaccines ought to be required. A  citizen’s right to their medical decisions is infrequently overruled by the obligation to promote the greater good. In this scenario, members of the Saint Ignatius community should not be required to comply with mandates because there is not enough reason to violate the freedom of choice. 

In Illinois, 75.6% of all citizens ages 18-64 are fully vaccinated. Just over 500 patients ages 18-24 have been admitted into hospitals in August 2021 for Covid -related symptoms throughout the United States. These low numbers highlight the reduced risk of Covid transmission, even though not everyone may be vaccinated. Looking at the reality of the dangers of the disease currently, there is not sufficient justification for the implementation of a vaccine mandate.