Hi parents, we’re trying to make sense of the UCs COVID vaccine requirements. We are not anti science in the least, but we have a family history of myocarditis (provable) and my husband is frankly terrified of our sons having a COVID vaccine. My son had COVID before vaccines were available and was asymptomatic. I am fully vaccinated and have gotten COVID pre and post vaccine, so we’re not entirely understanding what the point is of our son being vaccinated anyway. Has anyone gotten a UC exemption? Can our son participate in testing in lieu of getting the vaccine? What are our options?
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There is a covid vaccine medical exemption pathway at each of the UCs. As long as your S’s physician supports no covid vaccine because of this family history I doubt getting an exemption will be an issue…I would call the health center at the school your S is thinking about attending to discuss the process. @gumbymom? @ucbalumnus?
I agree with @Mwfan1921 and call the school. COVID-19 Vaccine Exception Request Process | UCOP
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By now, it’s understood that the vaccine largely prevents severe illness and makes people less less likely to spread the disease to others. Covid itself poses higher risk for myocarditis than the vaccine. (If interested, you can research this.)
The point of your son being vaccinated is the same as the point of any other mandatory vaccine. Mandatory TB & Immunization Program | University Health Services
UCs, like most other schools, are trying to prevent students from getting sick and spreading illness. Not trying to cause debate in any way. It’s a vaccine, like any other.
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Respectfully, it’s not like other vaccines. mRNA is different technology than vaccines previously used and required. My son has had COVID and we’d rather not give him a vaccine for an illness for which he is asymptomatic, especially when the vaccine does not stop the spread of the virus. We have a concern about myocarditis because of a family history. We cannot keep him from getting asymptomatic covid again, but we can opt not to give him the vaccine. We’re trying to explore our options to comply within the rules of the UC.
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Prior infection + vaccination tends to give better immune response against future COVID-19 infections than either alone. Also, COVID-19 can cause myocarditis, probably through the same mechanism that vaccines are thought to do so (spike proteins resembling proteins in heart cells).
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.059970 compares the risk of myocarditis from COVID-19 and a few different vaccines.
Basically, in general, myocarditis risk from COVID-19 is much higher than that from the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine (similar to J&J vaccine, but uses a different vector virus and uses two doses instead of one), but the Moderna vaccine has a much higher myocarditis risk than the other vaccines. The risk is distributed differently by age and gender. Men under 40 have a myocarditis risk from COVID-19 (unvaccinated) similar to or slightly higher than for the second dose of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine, but the second dose of the Moderna vaccine had a much higher risk (first doses had much lower risk than second doses). For women and older men, the myocarditis risk from COVID-19 is far higher than for any of the vaccines.
The Moderna vaccine’s primary series has 100μg of mRNA versus 30μg for the Pfizer vaccine. This is likely related to the higher risk of myocarditis in younger men, but also for greater effectiveness against COVID-19 in some studies.
A younger man who wants to get vaccinated but is concerned about myocarditis may want to prefer a non-Moderna vaccine. The J&J vaccine given as a single dose probably has the lowest myocarditis risk, but the risk of clotting problems / TTS (highest in younger women) has led to the FDA discouraging its use versus other vaccines. The Novavax vaccine has also had some increased rate of myocarditis found, but there does not seem to be any comparative information to other vaccines.
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The question is, why give a young man a vaccine for a virus he is asymptomatic to if the vaccine could cause myocarditis which he may be predisposed to? Especially when the vaccine does not stop the spread of the virus to others. My son just wants to go to college, he’ll test weekly if that’s needed. We’re just trying to figure out what to do.
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Although prior infection does give some immune response against future infections, and second infections are more likely than not to be less severe, there is no guarantee that a second infection will be less severe, nor is there a guarantee that it will not trigger myocarditis. Vaccination tips the odds more in one’s favor, even though it is not a guarantee either.
In any case, if he does not get an exemption, or decides that he wants the vaccine anyway, he may want to prefer a non-Moderna vaccine if he is concerned about myocarditis.
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Note that two of the four available COVID-19 vaccines in the US are not mRNA based. The one most similar to older vaccine technology is the Novavax vaccine, which is a protein subunit vaccine with adjuvant, similar to hepatitis B vaccines and the Shingrix shingles vaccine. Even more “traditional” inactivated virus vaccines are available in some other countries (including Mexico).
However, the probable mechanism for myocarditis (spike protein sometimes resembling heart proteins) is not dependent on vaccine technology, and is also a risk with the real virus. But perhaps it is related the the J&J vaccine has apparently the lowest risk of myocarditis and the lowest antibody stimulation.
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Your only option is to file a (medical) exemption. Your son cannot participate in testing in lieu of getting the vaccine.
The small print of the flu vaccine exemption has a student agree to non-pharmaceutical intervention (ie. wearing a mask). I haven’t seen that verbiage for COVID yet.
I’m going to move this to UC General with the hope that other UC parents who may have filed for an exemption might see it.
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What do you mean by “a virus he is asymptomatic to”?
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To protect against long covid, severe disease, hospitalization, and death in future infections that your S may get. His future infections may not be asymptomatic.
Does your S’s doc agree that none of the covid vaccines are appropriate for your S because of his family history of myocarditis? If so, I really don’t think there will be a problem getting the medical exemption, as detailed at the link Gumbymom gave. Your S should call his school/schools under consideration and ask about the medical exemption process, it seems straightforward.
Does your adult/soon to be adult son want to get vaccinated or not? If he’s going to get vaccinated once he leaves for school, this is all moot.
The various covid vaccines don’t stop the spread of the virus, but they do stop infection in some non-insignificant proportion of vaccinated people. It’s important that these threads reflect accurate information on the vaccines.
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If an exemption doesn’t work for whatever reason and you choose to look elsewhere, there are many other colleges/universities that have dropped their COVID vaccine requirements that could certainly serve as viable options for your son. I understand your hesitation and hope you find a way to meet your desired outcome for your son.
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He’s had COVID, before the vaccine was available. He tested positive and had not a single symptom. I was the only one in our family to have symptoms and they were mild.
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This could be true for many other people and the illnesses that UC mandates students be vaccinated for. TB won’t kill everyone, but that doesn’t make people exempt from being vaccinated.
UCs have a policy for exemptions and if your son is able to comply with the policy, he won’t have a problem. It’s unreasonable for the UCs to give exemptions based on one student’s particular experience with a newly evolving disease, which, at some point unfortunately, could make him sick or cause him to spread it easily to others.
The point of vaccines is to stop the spread of viruses and create herd immunity. This vaccine has not done that. Vaccinated people can still get and spread COVID. I’ve had COVID before and after being vaccinated and boosted as have many of my colleagues and students. I believe the vaccine can prevent severe disease, but if you’re not someone who gets severe disease, I don’t see the point in vaccinating.
I would love to hear from anyone who has experience with filing for an exemption.
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Stanford just dropped its Covid vaccine mandate entirely yesterday (effective next week I think); it’s possible UC and Cal State may as well soon due to fear of lawsuits.
If not, the current requirement for UC (I think) is that the original vaccine is required (but there’s an exemption process), and “up to date” boosters are recommended, but students can file a form declining all boosters (and there’s no adjudication/review process for that as there is for the original vaccination exemption request–the student’s form declining the booster will be approved and just kept on file).
So in a nutshell, for UC, the original vaccine requirement can be avoided with some difficulty with a religious or medical exemption request (and no guarantee of approval), but all boosters can be opted out of easily.
(If this is not the most current UC guidance please correct me. . .)
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Nice summary; thank you.
What is the flu vaccine requirement for UC? Do students need to submit proof of that every year they are enrolled?
I would check each schools website for current information or call the Health center.
Here is what is posted on the UC Davis website:
The University of California updated its COVID-19 Vaccine Policy effective Jan. 31, 2023. The policy requires all employees and students to get the primary COVID-19 vaccine series as well as be up to date on boosters, except for those that have an approved exception. It also offers the option for those who prefer to opt out of COVID-19 boosters to do so by submitting a declination statement. To comply with policy, employees and students will need to either upload their COVID-19 vaccine information or submit the declination form via Health-e-Messaging.
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