Professor explains his public opposition to university COVID booster mandate
A professor at George Mason University has publicly spoken out against the school’s Covid-19 booster mandate in a published memo to the university president.
Campus Reform spoke with Donald Boudreaux about the restrictions and his proposed solution.
On Monday, George Mason University Professor Donald Boudreaux wrote a critical public memo to university President Gregory Washington. The Virginia school had announced Dec. 31 that students and staff must get the COVID-19 booster before the spring semester and continue indoor masking on campus.
Campus Reform spoke by phone with Boudreaux to discuss his Jan. 3 memo, in which the economics professor asked Washington, “If you’re correct that ‘recent scientific data overwhelmingly supports the effectiveness of booster shots in preventing severe disease and hospitalization,’ what’s the point of compelling any adult to be boosted?”
”I oppose the mandates,” Boudreaux said. “The university doesn’t have to force you to be vaccinated to protect me. I can protect myself on my own.”
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He then said that George Mason should “get rid of all COVID policies,” claiming that “there’s no need for them” in part because “Omicron is almost simply a cold.”
What is Boudreaux’s solution?
”Let people choose.”
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”My conclusion makes sense in almost any setting, but especially in a collegiate setting where nearly every student is, even if unvaccinated, at virtually no risk even from the more severe strains of the Covid virus,” he stated.
Boudreaux also opposes the indoor masking requirement. In the Jan. 3 memo, the professor asked Washington directly, “If the degree to which virus spread is reduced by vaccinations and boosters is great enough to justify the unprecedented step of requiring all faculty, staff, and students to receive this medical treatment, what’s the point of masking?”
Campus Reform reached out to GMU President Gregory Washington. This article will be updated accordingly.
