Ohio University has received over 400 vaccination exemption requests and expects to see an increase in requests as the vaccination and exemption application deadlines near.
OU announced Aug. 31 that students, faculty and staff are required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine prior to Nov. 15. As part of the requirement, the university said individuals may submit an exemption and, if granted, will not be required to get vaccinated.
The university has received a total of 377 student exemption requests as of Oct. 6. Of that number, 339 were approved, and two were denied. Nine of the requests required more information, and 27 are still under review.
“I don't know what the count is these days, but I think we've got about 14,000 undergraduates on Athens campus,” Joseph McLaughlin, vice president of OU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, or OU-AAUP, said. “Let's say you get 1,000 that apply for the exemption: you're still talking about having over 90% of the students vaccinated, which is a very high rate.”
57 employees have also applied for exemptions, five are still under review and one request was denied.
“The requirement is real,” Gillian Ice, special assistant to the president for public health operations, said. “I suspect we'll get more (exemption requests). We're likely to get a flood close to the November 15 deadline.”
Vaccination exemptions are available under two categories: medical exemptions and reasons of conscience.
According to OU’s website, reasons of conscience are defined as any “sincerely held ethical, moral or religious basis” for not receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
“They have to write an essay … and there's a committee that reviews those that are blinded so that there's no bias against the individuals,” Ice said.
The committee is composed of representatives from Human Resources, Diversity and Inclusion, Student Affairs and a faculty representative under OU’s Equity and Civil Rights Compliance.
A medical exemption request must be signed by the practitioner of the individual applying for the exemption. The practitioner is required to confirm the basis of the request and provide any additional information for the Vaccine Medical Exemption Review Committee.
Of the 434 total number of applications received as of Oct. 6, 408 were reason of conscience requests, and 26 were medical requests. All three of the denied applications were medical requests.
McLaughlin said he has not heard any faculty members discussing the exemptions or expressing concerns about people who would be filing for exemptions.
“That would tend to be a fairly personal or private matter, so people are not going to be very public about the fact that they're doing that,” McLaughlin, an English professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, said.
The exemption process may take more than two weeks, Jim Sabin, a university spokesperson, said.
In a tweet posted Oct. 11, OU’s COVID Operations team encouraged students to begin planning ahead. As students are required to be vaccinated in nearly a month with both doses of two-dose vaccinations, the window for receiving a second dose by the deadline is closing.
Ice said those who do not have an approved exemption or who have not provided proof of vaccination will not immediately receive consequences. Instead, the university will call the individuals and bring them into compliance.
“What we’re not doing is telling students they cannot finish out the semester,” Ice said. “We're not going to be like, on November 16, ‘Hey, you haven't done that. You can't come to work.’ That doesn't typically work very well.”
However, in January, if students are still not in compliance with the requirement, they will not be eligible to stay enrolled at the university.
“I've been teaching my classes face-to-face this semester, and it's been wonderful,” McLaughlin said. “It's clear to me that the students really want to be in the classroom and like being in the classroom.”
Vaccination exemption applications are due Nov. 1.
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