U.S. Rep. Andy Harris Disagrees With Maryland University Mandate

MARYLAND —The University System of Maryland announced Friday that all students, faculty and staff who want to be on campus in the fall needed to have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

"We see that the risk of vaccines is very low, whereas the risk of COVID is very high — and that risk is increasingly falling on young people," University of Maryland Chancellor Jay A. Perman, who is also a physician, said in a statement Friday. "This is no longer a disease for the old. The data on the new COVID cases in Maryland show that 40 percent are patients under 40 years old."

U.S. Rep. Andy Harris said he disagreed with the University System of Maryland's decision to order people to get COVID-19 vaccines to return to campus.

Harris, who is a physician as well, alleged the mandate did not align with federal guidance.

“As a physician, I have administered many COVID-19 vaccines – and I continue to encourage everyone, especially our most vulnerable, to get vaccinated," Harris said in a statement Friday. "However, government mandates to require an individual to have an Emergency Use Authorized (EUA) vaccine flaunt the very federal FDA requirement that EUA products be optional, and that informed consent recognizing the unapproved nature of such products be obtained," Harris said.

"Having received significant federal and state government COVID relief funding, I would hope the University System of Maryland took positive steps to boost vaccine confidence to convince students, faculty, and the broader academic community to be voluntarily vaccinated," Harris said, " but coercion is no substitute for informed consent in this case."