Notre Dame President Criticized by Bishop, Faculty Over Vaccine Mandate

Catholic Vote ^ | 4/29/21

[marshmallow]

CV NEWS FEED // Two University of Notre Dame faculty members, including a Roman Catholic bishop, have criticized President Rev. John Jenkins for imposing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on campus.

As CatholicVote reported, Jenkins announced earlier this month that “Notre Dame will require all students – undergraduate, graduate, and professional – to be fully vaccinated as a condition of enrollment for the 2021–22 academic year.”

“Please register your vaccination at this site,” Jenkins wrote, providing a link. The web page Jenkins linked to includes a message asking students to “upload a picture of your vaccine card.”

On Monday, the student-run newspaper The Observer published a response to Jenkins’ decision written by Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, IL, who serves as an adjunct professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School, and Dr. Gerard Bradley, a Notre Dame Law Professor.

The two authors first acknowledged the “laudable” goal of protecting people from COVID-19 infections, especially those who are vulnerable and weak. They went on, however, to sharply criticize the ethics of mandating vaccination, and reminded Jenkins of “the obligation to respect each person’s right to make their own healthcare decisions, to freely act upon their conscientious convictions and what is genuinely fair to everyone concerned.”

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith recently “concluded that persons may — not must — get vaccinated,” they explained:

[Fedora]

The president of the University of Notre Dame is defending the decision to not revoke ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's honorary degree. In an interview with Crux on Nov. 5, Notre Dame President Fr. John Jenkins warned against demonizing those who stand accused of sexual abuse, claiming that abusers often live an incoherent double life. He argued, "There's a tendency, and I don't think it's a helpful tendency in this kind of situation, to turn the perpetrators into monsters.": ND PRES DEFENDS SEXUAL PREDATOR MCCARRICK, DOWNPLAYS ABUSE

[Reno89519]

Sounds like Notre Dame needs a new president.

[EC Washington]

Norte Shame has need a new President since the day Jenkins took over.

[jocon307]

“...abusers often live an incoherent double life.”

Alrighty then.

[WildHighlander57]

They want students to upload a picture of their vaccine card.

Isn’t that a violation of HIPAA laws, since that card has medical information on it?

[Fedora]

Not usually, but it might in some situations, such as:

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https://www.hipaajournal.com/does-hipaa-apply-to-schools/

One scenario where the HIPAA Privacy Rule would apply is when a healthcare professional provides medical services such as vaccinations at the school but is not employed by the school. In this situation, the healthcare professional would be required to comply with HIPAA, the records would be covered by HIPAA while they are held by the healthcare professional, and that individual would be required to obtain authorization before the health information is disclosed to the school. When those records are added to the student’s education records by the school, FERPA would apply rather than HIPAA.

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But another legal angle to this is that the “vaccines” are authorized for emergency use (EUA) by the FDA but not approved through the normal approval process. Under the regulations which govern this (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/21/360bbb-3), this requires that individuals to whom EUA vaccines are administered are advised of the right to refuse, of the consequences of refusal, and of alternatives and their benefits and consequences. Depending on how Notre Dame is handling this, someone might open a lawsuit on these grounds. A student who has sincerely-held religious objections to a vaccine could also file a discrimination complaint.

[Falconspeed]

Respect “each person’s right to make their own healthcare decisions.”

For sure. Selfish people pretend others are as selfish and as dumb as they are and then become disrespectful.

[GreyHoundSailor]

If I was a student, I’d demand to see the certificates for every person working there.

[WildHighlander57]

Many thanks for this info!

Does the same HIPAA laws apply to employers w.r.t. employees?

Substitute employer for school and employee for student in the example you gave?

[Marchmain]

People need to state they are conscientious objectors to the vaccine, we need to be a solid group that is exempted.