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Dear President Pollack and Cornell Board of Trustees, 

We are students, parents, alumni, faculty, and staff of Cornell University. We are grateful for Cornell’s efforts at keeping students and the Ithaca community safe during this pandemic. As concerned members of the global Big Red family, we write this open letter to express our strong opposition to Cornell’s Covid-19 booster mandate. In light of new data available about both the vaccine and the virus, we urge you to change the “mandate” to a “recommendation” based on the factors outlined below. 

We appreciate that the booster mandate and new procedures for the spring term stem from the good intention to prevent severe illness. But as with any public health policy, many factors — scientific, ethical, and legal — must be considered and weighed. We are concerned that Cornell, in issuing this booster mandate, has overlooked recent and evolving scientific data regarding the vaccine and the virus that makes a booster mandate inappropriate and unnecessary, raising serious ethical and legal questions.

In December 2021, Cornell identified over 1,600 Covid-19 positive cases with “every case of the Omicron variant to date [being] found in fully vaccinated students, a portion of whom had also received a booster shot.” Cornell’s own data highlights that vaccination, even with the booster, has very limited capability in stopping virus transmission. A similar conclusion has been reached by CDC’s research: vaccinated people seem to transmit Covid-19 similarly to unvaccinated people. The virus will continue to be transmitted among our highly vaccinated campuses. In a recent campus-wide email, Cornell explicitly acknowledged the impossibility of containing or eliminating Omicron, the flu, or other respiratory illnesses, which is why it will “shift from counting positive cases.” Cornell is fully aware that vaccines and booster injections cannot stop the spread of Covid-19.

As so many students test positive, they are, in essence, receiving a natural booster based on the very latest variants of the virus. And yet, Cornell is ignoring the natural immunity in these students and mandating a booster injection based on older variants, which Cornell knows is ineffective at stopping the spread of Covid-19 in the Cornell community. This decision is counter to science and seems like it was made less to promote students’ health and more to achieve some other unstated goal of the administration. Otherwise, why require a booster injection that is ineffective, and potentially dangerous, for students who are naturally contracting and fighting off a virus that many scientists believe is becoming more endemic than pandemic? 

Mounting evidence points to serious risks from exposure to the Covid-19 vaccines. The latest scientific research shows that Covid-19 vaccine side effects such as myocarditis, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, and pericarditis are more common in young people than we think (see references 1-5 listed below). Recently, an Oxford-conducted study of men under the age of 40 demonstrated that the risk of myocarditis after one dose mRNA exceeds the risk of myocarditis from an actual Covid-19 infection. Even more alarmingly, the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) indicates that there were over 15,000 Covid-19 vaccine related death cases in 2021, compared with the previous average of 158 vaccine related deaths per year (Pre-Covid-19), in the context of a yearly total of 280 million injections and 70 different vaccines. This data shows that, compared to other vaccines, Covid-19 injections carry around 100 times the risk of death. 

Why force such risks on our students when the rate of severe Covid-19 illness in the 16 to 40 year age group is exceedingly low? Newer variants appear to pose a near-zero risk of death for college students. Data now shows that the vaccine itself can pose more risk to young people than the virus itself, and repeated injections only increase those risks without any discernible reduction in the spread of the virus. 

All students are individuals, each someone’s child with unique medical, psychological, and emotional needs. Indeed, as the CDC has recognized, “people aged 18-64 years who are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of occupational or institutional setting may receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series, based on their individual benefits and risks” (emphasis added). With its blanket mandate, Cornell seems to be interpreting eligibility as a directive, ignoring both the science and CDC’s own guidance regarding individual benefits and risks.

The power differential between the university and students, which Cornell briefly acknowledged last year, raises serious ethical issues. In addition to the risk of side effects and death, Cornell’s injection mandate can trigger generational trauma in some students from intrusive, experimental, and other medically questionable procedures. For many students, the coercive nature of a third injection, after being told that they needed only two injections to attend Cornell, is contributing to psychological distress and emotional disorientation about future academic, social, and professional potential. We are seeing staggering mental health problems on campus and beyond. At this point in the pandemic, after nearly two years of following constantly changing rules, we would do right by our students to give them control over whether they receive additional doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. 

That is why we believe that the question of whether a student should receive a third (or fourth or fifth) booster must be answered individually by each student, in consultation with a medical professional or doctor, rather than by school administrators.

Considering new data on the virus and the vaccine, the university may very well cause disability or death by imposing further vaccine requirements, and it will have to bear the responsibility. Please do the right thing, and end this unnecessary and unethical mandate.

Members of the Cornell community, please sign HERE or click the following link.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1bddfvwlCjxZuXoudwopS1t627NUQeVZUN742pHoVuHA/edit

Additional References:

1. Intravenous injection of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine can induce acute myopericarditis in mouse model (Clin Infect Dis 2021 https://pubmed.ncbi.nih.gov/34406358)

2. The S1 protein of SARS-CoV-2 crosses the blood-brain barrier in mice (Nature Neuroscience 24, 368-378.)

3. SARS-CoV-2 spike impairs DNA damage repair and inhibits V(D)J recombination in vitro (Viruses 2021, 13 (10), 2056; https://doi.org/10.3390/v13102056)

4. Be aware of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein: There is more than meets the eyes (J Biol Regul Homeost Agents May-Jun 2021)

5. Risks of myocarditis, pericarditis, and cardiac arrhythmias associated with COVID-19 vaccination or SARS-CoV-2 infection (Nature Medicine 2021 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01630-0.pdf)

SIGNED BY students, parents, alumni, faculty, and staff below:

Adam Beckerman, Current ParentAlex Bilzerian ’19Alexandra Bovbel, Current ParentAllison Kerwin ‘11, ’21, StaffAlysse Merila ’20,Amy Buffone, Current ParentAmy Wang, Current ParentAnat Grosfeld ’01Andrea Maloney ’96Andrew McGaan ’83Andy Wang, Current ParentAnita Graf, AlumniAnn Merila, Current ParentApril O’Connor, Current ParentBonnie Gabizon, Current ParentBrad Liebmann, Current ParentBrian Nolan ’09Brigitte norris, Current ParentCarl Neuss ’76Carolyn Lee, Current ParentCarolyn Sanderson, Current ParentCasey Dutch ‘24Catherine Quirk, Current ParentCathleen LeClaire, StaffChris Ellis ’21Chris Shaver ‘86Christopher Webb ’89CL ’11Concordia van Hoesel ’93Crista Boldt, Current ParentCullen O’Hara, Current StudentDana Clarke, Current ParentDana Stangel-Plowe ’92, Current ParentDaniel DiCapite ’02,Daniel O’Neill ’17David B. Collum, FacultyDavid lund, Current ParentDavid Quinn, Current ParentDenise Deckert, Current ParentDiana Shea, Current ParentDr. Raymond Cannata, Current ParentDoris Marino, Current ParentEileen DeRosa, Current ParentElena Martsen, Current ParentElisabeth Harrod, Ithaca Resident 2001, Current ParentElizabeth Baker, Current ParentElizabeth Hall ‘93, Current ParentEllis Bitar ’18Eric KovalskyEric McBride ’24Erik Browning ’96, Current ParentErin Fuller, Current ParentErik Starling ’23Farez Alibay MEng ’03George Liu, Current ParentGeorge Rocco DeLorenzo ’24George Sarbinowski ’24Georgia Deplas, Current ParentGeorge Záfelas, Current ParentGianno Pannafino, Current StudentGrace Ogden ‘22Green Willow, Current ParentHank Zhang, Current ParentHolly D. Gruskay, Current ParentHunter Sloan ’25Ian Heller, Current ParentJ Abanilla, Current ParentJacqueline Barrientos MS ‘17James Boran ’04Jamia Jasper, JGSM ’97Jamie Warner, StaffJared Walters ’25Jason Apostle ’21Jason Cooper ’12Jennifer Catalano, Current ParentJennifer Dalseth, Current ParentJennifer Li, Current ParentJennifer Mosier, Current ParentJennifer Winter, Current ParentJill Ausiello Greier ’99Jodi Cafritz, Current ParentJoe Ruggirello, Current ParentJohn Brozowski, Current ParentJohn Cook ’24John liang, Current ParentJohn KatimarisJonathan Feinberg ’24Jonathan Plowe ‘92, Current ParentJoni McGary ’84Josh Lignana, Current ParentJudy Snyder, Current ParentJustin Lewis ’22Kate Liebmann ’23Kathy Cannata ’23Kelly Boccafola, Current ParentKiki Plowe ’25Kristin Ryan, Current ParentL Goldfarb, AlumniLaura Saldivar Tanaka ’01Lauren Liebmann, Current ParentLetitia Todd Kim ’91Liping Jiang, Current ParentLisa Banbury, Current ParentLisa Ginther, Current ParentLisa Tysall, Current ParentLiza Peoples ’24Lois Darlington-Rossi ’87Lorena Morelli, Current ParentLucas Carlo, Current ParentLucas Kirshenbaum ’22Lucy Plowe ‘20Luke Yacinich ’22, Current StudentMandy, Current ParentMark Golkowski ’02Mark J. Lenz JD ’91Mark Merila ’82, Current ParentMaria Orgeira, Current ParentMarianna Adama Issah, Current ParentMartin SchulzMary Dreiling, Current ParentMary Lombardi ’86, ’90Mary Beth Mahaney, StaffMatt, AlumniMatt Horton ’17Maureen Young, Current Parent Max Buckholtz, StaffMeri Atlas, Current ParentMichael Kim ’90Michael Reese ’98Michelle Miller, Current ParentMike Kogan, Current ParentMike Nolan ’77Mike Zeng, Current ParentMs. Stark ’66Nikki Mars ’23Nikki O’Leary, Current ParentNaomi, Current ParentNoah Gold Dec ’21Norma Moledo, Current ParentO. Shane Balloun ’00Pascal Dalseth, Current ParentPatricia Creciun, Current ParentPaul, Current ParentPaul Rossi ’92Peer Soderberg, MD, Current ParentPhil Day, Current Parentqiaoling Liu, Current ParentRam Venkat, StaffRebecca Fisher, AlumniRebecca Rubin ’19Rebecca Sloan, Current ParentRebecca Wein, Current ParentRicardo Cruz, Current StudentRichard A. Gallo ’97Richard Green ’96Rick Lattin, StaffRichard Lee, Current ParentRobert Bognar, StaffRobert Hymans, Current ParentRosalie Lorenzo, Current ParentRoss Novie ’93Ross Weiner, Current ParentRui Li, Current ParentRyan Krainz ’18Russell Sloan, Current ParentSamrina Mapara, Current ParentSamuel Kim ’23Santina Reichenbach, Current ParentSarah (Seo) Peterson ’02Shae, Current StudentShari Mahoney ’94, Current ParentSofia Sotres ’15Stephanie Britt Griffin ’96Stephanie Lytle, Current ParentSteven Chang ’00Sue Xu, Current ParentSusan Federico, Current ParentSusan Ferris Edgell JD ’83Susanne Hogan, Current ParentTania Cassell, Current ParentTanya Kogan, Current ParentTed Morgan, Current ParentTerry Silba, StaffTheo Goldman ’24Thomas Haig, Current StudentTimothy Lenz ’03Timothy Vu ‘24Ting Xie, Current ParentTyler Unrath ’24Vince Pfannenstiel, Current ParentWendy Wang, Current ParentWilliam Simoneit ’19Ying Zhao, Current ParentZhanbei Liang, Current ParentAnonymous ’23Anonymous ’24Anonymous, Current Parent ’24Anonymous, Incoming Parent ’26Anonymous, Current ParentAnonymous, Current ParentAnonymous, Current ParentAnonymous, Current ParentAnonymous, Staff

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Dear President Pollack and Cornell Board of Trustees, 

We are students, parents, alumni, faculty, and staff of Cornell University. We are grateful for Cornell’s efforts at keeping students and the Ithaca community safe during this pandemic. As concerned members of the global Big Red family, we write this open letter to express our strong opposition to Cornell’s Covid-19 booster mandate. In light of new data available about both the vaccine and the virus, we urge you to change the “mandate” to a “recommendation” based on the factors outlined below. 

We appreciate that the booster mandate and new procedures for the spring term stem from the good intention to prevent severe illness. But as with any public health policy, many factors — scientific, ethical, and legal — must be considered and weighed. We are concerned that Cornell, in issuing this booster mandate, has overlooked recent and evolving scientific data regarding the vaccine and the virus that makes a booster mandate inappropriate and unnecessary, raising serious ethical and legal questions.

In December 2021, Cornell identified over 1,600 Covid-19 positive cases with “every case of the Omicron variant to date [being] found in fully vaccinated students, a portion of whom had also received a booster shot.” Cornell’s own data highlights that vaccination, even with the booster, has very limited capability in stopping virus transmission. A similar conclusion has been reached by CDC’s research: vaccinated people seem to transmit Covid-19 similarly to unvaccinated people. The virus will continue to be transmitted among our highly vaccinated campuses. In a recent campus-wide email, Cornell explicitly acknowledged the impossibility of containing or eliminating Omicron, the flu, or other respiratory illnesses, which is why it will “shift from counting positive cases.” Cornell is fully aware that vaccines and booster injections cannot stop the spread of Covid-19.

As so many students test positive, they are, in essence, receiving a natural booster based on the very latest variants of the virus. And yet, Cornell is ignoring the natural immunity in these students and mandating a booster injection based on older variants, which Cornell knows is ineffective at stopping the spread of Covid-19 in the Cornell community. This decision is counter to science and seems like it was made less to promote students’ health and more to achieve some other unstated goal of the administration. Otherwise, why require a booster injection that is ineffective, and potentially dangerous, for students who are naturally contracting and fighting off a virus that many scientists believe is becoming more endemic than pandemic? 

Mounting evidence points to serious risks from exposure to the Covid-19 vaccines. The latest scientific research shows that Covid-19 vaccine side effects such as myocarditis, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, and pericarditis are more common in young people than we think (see references 1-5 listed below). Recently, an Oxford-conducted study of men under the age of 40 demonstrated that the risk of myocarditis after one dose mRNA exceeds the risk of myocarditis from an actual Covid-19 infection. Even more alarmingly, the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) indicates that there were over 15,000 Covid-19 vaccine related death cases in 2021, compared with the previous average of 158 vaccine related deaths per year (Pre-Covid-19), in the context of a yearly total of 280 million injections and 70 different vaccines. This data shows that, compared to other vaccines, Covid-19 injections carry around 100 times the risk of death. 

Why force such risks on our students when the rate of severe Covid-19 illness in the 16 to 40 year age group is exceedingly low? Newer variants appear to pose a near-zero risk of death for college students. Data now shows that the vaccine itself can pose more risk to young people than the virus itself, and repeated injections only increase those risks without any discernible reduction in the spread of the virus. 

All students are individuals, each someone’s child with unique medical, psychological, and emotional needs. Indeed, as the CDC has recognized, “people aged 18-64 years who are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of occupational or institutional setting may receive a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months after their Pfizer-BioNTech primary series, based on their individual benefits and risks” (emphasis added). With its blanket mandate, Cornell seems to be interpreting eligibility as a directive, ignoring both the science and CDC’s own guidance regarding individual benefits and risks.

The power differential between the university and students, which Cornell briefly acknowledged last year, raises serious ethical issues. In addition to the risk of side effects and death, Cornell’s injection mandate can trigger generational trauma in some students from intrusive, experimental, and other medically questionable procedures. For many students, the coercive nature of a third injection, after being told that they needed only two injections to attend Cornell, is contributing to psychological distress and emotional disorientation about future academic, social, and professional potential. We are seeing staggering mental health problems on campus and beyond. At this point in the pandemic, after nearly two years of following constantly changing rules, we would do right by our students to give them control over whether they receive additional doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. 

That is why we believe that the question of whether a student should receive a third (or fourth or fifth) booster must be answered individually by each student, in consultation with a medical professional or doctor, rather than by school administrators.

Considering new data on the virus and the vaccine, the university may very well cause disability or death by imposing further vaccine requirements, and it will have to bear the responsibility. Please do the right thing, and end this unnecessary and unethical mandate.

Members of the Cornell community, please sign HERE or click the following link.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1bddfvwlCjxZuXoudwopS1t627NUQeVZUN742pHoVuHA/edit

Additional References:

1. Intravenous injection of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine can induce acute myopericarditis in mouse model (Clin Infect Dis 2021 https://pubmed.ncbi.nih.gov/34406358)

2. The S1 protein of SARS-CoV-2 crosses the blood-brain barrier in mice (Nature Neuroscience 24, 368-378.)

3. SARS-CoV-2 spike impairs DNA damage repair and inhibits V(D)J recombination in vitro (Viruses 2021, 13 (10), 2056; https://doi.org/10.3390/v13102056)

4. Be aware of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein: There is more than meets the eyes (J Biol Regul Homeost Agents May-Jun 2021)

5. Risks of myocarditis, pericarditis, and cardiac arrhythmias associated with COVID-19 vaccination or SARS-CoV-2 infection (Nature Medicine 2021 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01630-0.pdf)

SIGNED BY students, parents, alumni, faculty, and staff below:

Adam Beckerman, Current ParentAlex Bilzerian ’19Alexandra Bovbel, Current ParentAllison Kerwin ‘11, ’21, StaffAlysse Merila ’20,Amy Buffone, Current ParentAmy Wang, Current ParentAnat Grosfeld ’01Andrea Maloney ’96Andrew McGaan ’83Andy Wang, Current ParentAnita Graf, AlumniAnn Merila, Current ParentApril O’Connor, Current ParentBonnie Gabizon, Current ParentBrad Liebmann, Current ParentBrian Nolan ’09Brigitte norris, Current ParentCarl Neuss ’76Carolyn Lee, Current ParentCarolyn Sanderson, Current ParentCasey Dutch ‘24Catherine Quirk, Current ParentCathleen LeClaire, StaffChris Ellis ’21Chris Shaver ‘86Christopher Webb ’89CL ’11Concordia van Hoesel ’93Crista Boldt, Current ParentCullen O’Hara, Current StudentDana Clarke, Current ParentDana Stangel-Plowe ’92, Current ParentDaniel DiCapite ’02,Daniel O’Neill ’17David B. Collum, FacultyDavid lund, Current ParentDavid Quinn, Current ParentDenise Deckert, Current ParentDiana Shea, Current ParentDr. Raymond Cannata, Current ParentDoris Marino, Current ParentEileen DeRosa, Current ParentElena Martsen, Current ParentElisabeth Harrod, Ithaca Resident 2001, Current ParentElizabeth Baker, Current ParentElizabeth Hall ‘93, Current ParentEllis Bitar ’18Eric KovalskyEric McBride ’24Erik Browning ’96, Current ParentErin Fuller, Current ParentErik Starling ’23Farez Alibay MEng ’03George Liu, Current ParentGeorge Rocco DeLorenzo ’24George Sarbinowski ’24Georgia Deplas, Current ParentGeorge Záfelas, Current ParentGianno Pannafino, Current StudentGrace Ogden ‘22Green Willow, Current ParentHank Zhang, Current ParentHolly D. Gruskay, Current ParentHunter Sloan ’25Ian Heller, Current ParentJ Abanilla, Current ParentJacqueline Barrientos MS ‘17James Boran ’04Jamia Jasper, JGSM ’97Jamie Warner, StaffJared Walters ’25Jason Apostle ’21Jason Cooper ’12Jennifer Catalano, Current ParentJennifer Dalseth, Current ParentJennifer Li, Current ParentJennifer Mosier, Current ParentJennifer Winter, Current ParentJill Ausiello Greier ’99Jodi Cafritz, Current ParentJoe Ruggirello, Current ParentJohn Brozowski, Current ParentJohn Cook ’24John liang, Current ParentJohn KatimarisJonathan Feinberg ’24Jonathan Plowe ‘92, Current ParentJoni McGary ’84Josh Lignana, Current ParentJudy Snyder, Current ParentJustin Lewis ’22Kate Liebmann ’23Kathy Cannata ’23Kelly Boccafola, Current ParentKiki Plowe ’25Kristin Ryan, Current ParentL Goldfarb, AlumniLaura Saldivar Tanaka ’01Lauren Liebmann, Current ParentLetitia Todd Kim ’91Liping Jiang, Current ParentLisa Banbury, Current ParentLisa Ginther, Current ParentLisa Tysall, Current ParentLiza Peoples ’24Lois Darlington-Rossi ’87Lorena Morelli, Current ParentLucas Carlo, Current ParentLucas Kirshenbaum ’22Lucy Plowe ‘20Luke Yacinich ’22, Current StudentMandy, Current ParentMark Golkowski ’02Mark J. Lenz JD ’91Mark Merila ’82, Current ParentMaria Orgeira, Current ParentMarianna Adama Issah, Current ParentMartin SchulzMary Dreiling, Current ParentMary Lombardi ’86, ’90Mary Beth Mahaney, StaffMatt, AlumniMatt Horton ’17Maureen Young, Current Parent Max Buckholtz, StaffMeri Atlas, Current ParentMichael Kim ’90Michael Reese ’98Michelle Miller, Current ParentMike Kogan, Current ParentMike Nolan ’77Mike Zeng, Current ParentMs. Stark ’66Nikki Mars ’23Nikki O’Leary, Current ParentNaomi, Current ParentNoah Gold Dec ’21Norma Moledo, Current ParentO. Shane Balloun ’00Pascal Dalseth, Current ParentPatricia Creciun, Current ParentPaul, Current ParentPaul Rossi ’92Peer Soderberg, MD, Current ParentPhil Day, Current Parentqiaoling Liu, Current ParentRam Venkat, StaffRebecca Fisher, AlumniRebecca Rubin ’19Rebecca Sloan, Current ParentRebecca Wein, Current ParentRicardo Cruz, Current StudentRichard A. Gallo ’97Richard Green ’96Rick Lattin, StaffRichard Lee, Current ParentRobert Bognar, StaffRobert Hymans, Current ParentRosalie Lorenzo, Current ParentRoss Novie ’93Ross Weiner, Current ParentRui Li, Current ParentRyan Krainz ’18Russell Sloan, Current ParentSamrina Mapara, Current ParentSamuel Kim ’23Santina Reichenbach, Current ParentSarah (Seo) Peterson ’02Shae, Current StudentShari Mahoney ’94, Current ParentSofia Sotres ’15Stephanie Britt Griffin ’96Stephanie Lytle, Current ParentSteven Chang ’00Sue Xu, Current ParentSusan Federico, Current ParentSusan Ferris Edgell JD ’83Susanne Hogan, Current ParentTania Cassell, Current ParentTanya Kogan, Current ParentTed Morgan, Current ParentTerry Silba, StaffTheo Goldman ’24Thomas Haig, Current StudentTimothy Lenz ’03Timothy Vu ‘24Ting Xie, Current ParentTyler Unrath ’24Vince Pfannenstiel, Current ParentWendy Wang, Current ParentWilliam Simoneit ’19Ying Zhao, Current ParentZhanbei Liang, Current ParentAnonymous ’23Anonymous ’24Anonymous, Current Parent ’24Anonymous, Incoming Parent ’26Anonymous, Current ParentAnonymous, Current ParentAnonymous, Current ParentAnonymous, Current ParentAnonymous, Staff

Add your name here, and we will update this list with your name and affiliation.

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Cornellians Against Booster Mandate, Blog at WordPress.com.

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Stole this from the game assassin's creed. So applicable in to days environment.

I believe that by doing so has created skeptic supporters! Why is this good? How many people have called trump a cult leader? How many people saw trump supporters call him out on national tv? How many normies know supporter are not blined zombies?

He was not sworne in when "his presidency" started at noon he swore in on trumps check out the constitution