Editorial: What to learn from fining students for skipping vaccine?
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West Virginia was the last state where covid-19 reared its head.
While Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland and more had patients test positive for the disease earlier in March 2020, it wasn’t until March 17 that the Mountaineer State had a confirmed case. More than a year later, its numbers remain low, with just 172,000 positive tests and 2,975 deaths compared to Pennsylvania’s 1.25 million cases and 27,000 deaths.
Yes, West Virginia is smaller, but the difference is still greater than the population.
It could point to things that are happening in West Virginia that restrict transmission. But Pennsylvania’s rural areas are much like West Virginia’s — peppered with small towns and odd distances.
Could it be about the vaccines? Probably not. While Pennsylvania is 53.2% vaccinated, less than 40% of West Virginia’s population is.
But our next door neighbors have taken steps that the Keystone State hasn’t. Gov. Jim Justice tried to increase those vaccination numbers with a $1 million lottery, scholarships, trucks, savings bonds and gift cards. Pennsylvania is one of the few states that has eschewed big-ticket enticements, relying instead on encouraging people to do the right thing for their health and that of their neighbors.
Now another West Virginia institution is taking a step that Pennsylvania’s haven’t amid rising covid numbers and delta variant concerns.
West Virginia Wesleyan College is charging unvaccinated students a $750 fee for the fall semester. The fee is nonrefundable and will be assessed without proof of at least the first shot being received by Sept. 7. Get sick during the semester and can’t quarantine off campus? That’s another $250, please.
It is also on top of the unvaccinated being required to socially distance, mask up and take weekly covid tests. The fees are going to cover the college’s added costs for testing and other protocols.
This is happening while Pennsylvania schools weigh whether or not to require vaccines at all. Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education colleges like Indiana, Edinboro and California universities say they can’t mandate the vaccines. Penn State is encouraging it but not requiring it. Neither is the University of Pittsburgh, but Carnegie Mellon University is. Other private schools are a mixed bag of demands.
None of them, however, has decided to fine students for not getting a shot.
Maybe West Virginia Wesleyan sees this as less of a punishment than a motivator for students. Maybe the goal is to encourage, just like the lottery or the gift cards or the savings bonds.
The difference is that was actually an enticement. Do this, get that. The state gave $100 to people. It didn’t raid bank accounts and take $100 away. Then again, West Virginia lags 14% behind Pennsylvania in vaccinations, so maybe bribery wasn’t the answer.