As of June 10, 2021, Marietta College will require that all Physician Assistant, Masters in Psychology, and Athletic Training graduate students be vaccinated, including the COVID 19 vaccine, with specific exemptions for medical and religious reasons. We have made this decision in support of the health and safety of our graduate students, faculty, and staff while on campus, and to protect patients, preceptors, and other colleagues that graduate students may come in contact with during clinical education. Intense study in health, medicine, and science does, by its unique, face-to-face or hands-on nature, involve situations where students may be working quite closely together, practicing techniques with each other, and of course having contact with patients in a variety of circumstances during training or clinical rotations. This policy presumes a research and science-based approach to health and safety. We follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and State of Ohio health guidelines, and we are supported in these standards by ARC-PA, our accrediting body for our Physician Assistant program. Please see their statements at the conclusion of this policy.
No graduate education in healthcare is complete without rigorous and varied clinical rotations. While we work with many sites to provide a variety of preceptors and clinical experiences, we do currently have clinical sites accepting only students who have been vaccinated for COVID 19. We expect this current expectation (to work only with our vaccinated graduate students) to become the rule, rather than the exception, and we have no input as to whether the clinical sites accept medical or religious exemptions. Graduate students in health care who choose not to be vaccinated can seriously impact their ability to be trained in a clinical setting. Please note that adequate levels of vaccination in our incoming graduate classes will determine the mode of instruction. Regardless of the reason, if we do not meet current guidelines and faculty recommendation on vaccination rates for herd immunity, we will continue PPE protocols that include and may exceed distancing, barriers, and masks worn inside at all times.
Graduate Student Request For Waiver from Required Immunizations
ARC-PA statement about vaccination:
The ARC-PA Standards state: A3.07 The program must define, publish, make readily available and consistently apply: a) a policy on immunization and health screening of students. Such policy must be based on then current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for health professionals and state specific mandates.
CDC statement about health care personnel vaccination:
Healthcare personnel continue to be on the front line of the nation’s fight against COVID-19. By providing critical care to those who are or might be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, some healthcare personnel are at increased risk of infection from COVID-19. All healthcare personnel are recommended to get vaccinated against COVID-19.