NC panel rejects petition to mandate COVID-19 vaccine for high school seniors

Before a panel voted to reject a petition mandating COVID-19 vaccines for all high school seniors, dozens of parents gathered outside the state Division of Public Health building on Six Forks Road Wednesday to share their opinions.

The state Commission on Public Health, which is composed of doctors from various fields of medicine, met for hours beginning at 9 a.m. to consider the petition, which featured the signatures of about 250 UNC System faculty and staff but was not expected to pass.

Before 11:30 a.m., the commission voted unanimously to not take on the proposed vaccine mandate. Their decision matches a recommendation from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, which says it's too soon for such a requirement.

"With information about vaccine doses and booster scheduling still evolving, we believe it is premature for the Commission to codify the immunization," state health Secretary Kody Kinsley wrote.

The formal petition was submitted last fall by UNC staff, mostly from Appalachian State University, who are frustrated that UNC is not requiring students to get vaccinated. They asked the Commission for Public Health to make the COVID shot a required school vaccine for all 17-year-olds.

Stella Anderson was among the group that called for vaccine mandates for North Carolina teens.

"It’s an extraordinarily frustrating time right now," she said.

Vaccine requirements are crucial for campuses to operate effectively and efficiently, according to Anderson.

"We can only do that to a certain extent without disruption and enormous devoted resources to this whole issue under a voluntary vaccination," she said.

The UNC System maintains it's up to the commission to mandate vaccines.

In a statement to WRAL News, System President Peter Hans said:

“Throughout the course of this pandemic, we have followed the guidance of public health officials to help keep our students, faculty and staff safe. We thank the NC Department of Health and Human Services and the NC Commission for Public Health for their partnership during the pandemic, and will continue follow their recommendations. We strongly encourage all students, faculty and staff, and indeed, all North Carolinians, to get vaccinated and boosted when eligible. To date, our campus clinics have administered more than 128,000 COVID-19 shots "

"I’m very disappointed actually," said Adriana de Souza e Silva, a professor at NC State. "Universities and colleges already require so many vaccinations and now this is actually the most important one because we’re in the middle of a pandemic.

But as word of the petition spread across social media, parents against a vaccine mandate began to call for a protest outside Wednesday's meeting.

By state law, the commission has to consider every petition brought to it. This one faces plenty of hurdles in addition to parent opposition.

On Wednesday, Kelly Cook, who called herself a concerned parent, said she won't get vaccinated herself.

"My son, who just turned 18, had some heart issues," she said. "I don't want him taking the vaccine. My daughter is 15, my youngest. I don't want that mandated for her."

Cook said she feels she is being silenced.

"That's all I'm asking," she said. "Stop silencing. Take it into consideration."

If the commission granted the petition, it would still have to go through the state rule making process, including a public hearing.

If the commission were to vote to require the vaccine, all it would take is 10 written objections to put that rule on hold, and give state lawmakers a chance to disapprove it.