After almost two years of classes being shifted online due to the pandemic, the El Camino College community is expecting to make a full return back onto campus in the spring 2022 semester.

On Sept. 7, the El Camino College Board of Trustees approved and adopted a vaccine mandate requiring all students and faculty to be fully vaccinated and to show proof of their vaccinations by Jan. 3, 2022.

Several California college campuses have started enforcing their own vaccine mandate policies this fall and nationally, vaccine mandates have been a divisive topic with people vying for or against either side. Now due to the Board of Trustees’ adoption of the vaccine mandate, everyone in the El Camino College (ECC) community will have to get vaccinated in order to step foot on campus.

Arthur Weisse, a student working at the ECC bookstore believes that the vaccine mandate set in place is the best option for the ECC Community.

“I think the vaccine mandate is a very essential thing for everyone here…it is very important for every place to have it,” Weisse said.

When asked if he had seen any backlash regarding the mandate, Weisse said that he has only seen students and faculty following the COVID-related safety systems in place but does admit he has a limited viewpoint as most of his time spent on campus is inside of the bookstore.

Student Services Building employee and student Daisy Garcia believes that the vaccine mandate should have been adopted by ECC a while ago.

“I do think it will have a positive effect. Students will definitely feel safer here knowing that if you’re on campus, you’re going to be vaccinated and you don’t have to be worried about who’s vaccinated and who isn’t so I definitely think it will be better,” Garcia said.

Albert Ramirez is another student employed at the Student Services Building who showed support for ECC’s decision, saying that the vaccine mandate is a key component in getting students and faculty back onto campus while also allowing for more campus facilities to open back up.

“I think the vaccine mandate is positive because now it allows El Camino [College] to open up at a higher capacity,” Ramirez said.

English professor Jennifer Annick said that the vaccine mandate is vital in keeping everyone safe and healthy as it is is an important step in allowing students and faculty members to return to campus operations.

When asked if she thought that having a vaccine mandate was the right choice, Annick said that it is important to enforce the mandate while also mentioning how challenging it would be to keep that promise.

ECC Library employee and student, Ngan Kim Pham said that receiving the vaccine has improved her overall mental health by allowing her to feel much safer whenever she goes out.

“I feel like when I got vaccinated, I felt like free to go out and communicate with people. The second thing is that I feel responsible for the community; if I got [tested] positive, it is not only affecting my life, it’s also affecting my relatives, my friends, my family and even the community,” Pham said.

With a positive outlook on ECC’s vaccine mandate, Pham said that she looks forward to seeing the vast majority of students and faculty returning to campus for the spring 2022 semester.

“I think the vaccination mandate is for every student and every worker. It’s happiness to get back to the past life,” Pham said.