The State Center Community College District vaccination mandate has caused mixed feelings amongst students at Fresno City College. 

The SCCCD Board of Trustees passed the resolution in favor of the mandate on Aug. 23 during a special meeting on Zoom about COVID mitigation. 

Effective Oct. 15, all employees, students and visitors will be required to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 to physically access any campus within the SCCCD.

FCC student Alonzo Mays heard about the mandate through other students around campus and believes the mandate is necessary.

 “Everyone should get tested and vaccinated to make the campus safer,” he said. 

FCC student Sandra Munoz heard about the mandate around campus. 

Munoz is vaccinated and also believes the campus would be safer if everyone else were to do the same. 

In addition, she supports the religious and medical exemptions that would allow certain people to bypass their vaccination shot.

While some students support the mandate, others like FCC student Jamie Orellana are hesitant. 

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I do not believe in the vaccine,” Orellana said. 

She feels that there is not enough evidence to support how safe the vaccine truly is. 

She also said she would switch entirely to online classes to avoid getting vaccinated, despite in-person classes being easier to understand.

FCC student Aaron Guedea is not vaccinated and believes the mandate infringes on students’ freedom. 

He argues that vaccines should only be mandated in places where risk of contracting the virus is high, like hospitals.

 “I do believe in freedom a lot, so if you want to get the vaccine, you should get it. If you don’t, then don’t. It should be the students’ choice,” he said.

FCC student Lisa Page heard about the mandate through her student email. 

Despite being fully vaccinated, Page does not support the mandate because nobody is going to want to feel forced into doing anything. 

Page argued that in-person classes are the preferred way to learn for some students, so it would be unfair to force those who aren’t vaccinated to go online. 

“It is unfair to deny a student their education. The people who do not want to be vaccinated and are against it will be forced to be online,” she said. 

In addition, Page believes a big portion of students will just not go to school if they are forced to get vaccinated.

FCC student with similar views on the vaccine is Ashlee Castro, who is fully vaccinated and was unaware of the mandate. 

After being informed, she said in-person classes are helpful but does not want students to feel forced into getting vaccinated in order to remain on campus for a better education.

Another FCC student Brahan Lopez, found out about the mandate through his student email. 

Lopez is against the mandate because he is skeptical about the safety of the vaccine but did not explain why. 

In addition, Lopez expressed his distaste with how biased media outlets have come across on the topic of COVID-19 by only discussing the positive effects of the vaccine while ignoring its potential long term health effects, which National Geographic states vaccines are unlikely to cause any. 

“There should be transparency between the consumer and the customer,” he said.