Athletes from Arizona State University are protesting a ban on COVID-19 booster vaccinations for students who want to participate in road games.
More than 1,700 people have signed an online petition titled FREEDOM OF CHOICE: BOOSTER PRACTICE FOR ASU COVID-19 STUDENT ATHLETES, which calls on the university to give student athletes the opportunity to choose whether or not to receive a COVID-19 booster shot.
According to the petition, the university has required basketball players, wrestlers and gymnasts to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to travel to away games. They say they were notified of the policy on January 11th.
The petition stresses that the university’s student-athletes are not “against vaccination” or “against booster vaccinations” but call for respect for their “decision and freedom to dictate what we do with our bodies.”
“We are not downplaying or denying the alleged uses and research behind the COVID-19 booster shot,” the petition reads. “We are simply asking for the freedom to make our own medical decisions regarding our personal health, using our First Amendment right to petition and have our say.”
“In a collective and respectful agreement between athletes of various sports teams in the state of Arizona, we express our position to fight for the right to dictate what we choose to inject into our bodies regarding the COVID-19 booster shot,” the petition reads. .
“We support those who receive a booster and do not discredit the choices and decisions people have made in relation to their personal health beliefs. However, we also support those who do not want to receive a COVID-19 revaccination,” the message says.
AZFamily quoted a university spokesperson as saying that an “accommodation process” would be in place for those unable to get vaccinated or boosted for medical or religious reasons.
“As we continue to fight the latest wave of COVID-19, Sun Devil Athletics requires student athletes, staff and coaches going to competition to stay up to date with the latest vaccinations,” a spokesperson said.
The Epoch Times has contacted Arizona State University for further comment.
“We want to make the point that we as athletes should NOT make a forced decision that forces us to sacrifice the season and competition we come to Arizona for. We feel that the decision and freedom to dictate what we do with our body is no longer in our personal control due to this new practice,” the petition reads.
Meanwhile, a South African study published Jan. 18 in The Lancet found that a variant of the Omicron coronavirus is able to evade protection from COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, such as those made by Pfizer and Moderna.
The study examined some of the first documented breakthrough cases of the highly contagious Omicron strain that emerged in South Africa in late October 2021.
Between late November 2021 and early December 2021, a group of seven Germans who received three doses of the vaccine, including at least two doses of the mRNA vaccine, visited Cape Town, South Africa and subsequently developed symptomatic COVID-19 . None of these people reported a history of COVID-19 infection. COVID-19 is a disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
According to the study, the cases among the group were the first documented breakthrough infections with the Omicron variant in fully vaccinated individuals after receiving booster doses of the vaccine.
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Isabelle van Brugen is an award-winning journalist, currently a news reporter for The Epoch Times. She holds an MA in newspaper journalism from the City of London University.
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