The Vax Of Life, Con't

At least one state university, UVA, is taking vaccine requirements seriously for COVID: no vaccine, no college for over 200 students sent packing for refusing the jab.

The University of Virginia disenrolled 238 students ahead of its fall semester for noncompliance with the school’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement.

Of that number, 49 were enrolled in fall courses — meaning that “a good number” of the remaining students “may not have been planning to return to the University this fall at all,” U.Va. spokesperson Brian Coy said in an email to The Virginian-Pilot.

The students were disenrolled after “receiving multiple reminders via email, text, phone calls, calls to parents that they were out of compliance and had until yesterday to update their status,” Coy said.

Disenrolled students can reenroll if they comply with U.Va.’s vaccine requirement or file an exemption by Aug. 25. They can also return during the spring semester, provided they are vaccinated or exempt by then.

Students had until Wednesday to either show proof of vaccination or file an exemption.

U.Va. granted 335 permanent vaccine waivers for students with religious or medical exemptions. The university also granted 184 temporary vaccine waivers for students who couldn’t get vaccinated due to their summer living situation but intend to get a vaccine once on campus.

Exempt students are required to take a weekly COVID-19 test and wear a mask in both indoor and outdoor common spaces.

The university is one of many across the state requiring students to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Several local universities — such as William & Mary, Old Dominion University, Norfolk State University and Christopher Newport University — are also requiring proof of vaccination.

About 96.6 percent of U.Va. students have been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a news release.

 

So there are unvaccinated students, who have filed exemptions, and are facing weekly testing and masks. The school is accommodating them, for sure. The ones who didn't play ball at all however are gone.

Expect to see a lot more of this in the weeks and months ahead, both from universities and businesses, and I expect some sort of Supreme Court ruling (or punt) as soon as the October 1 term starts, if not an emergency ruling sooner. One way or another, mask mandates are going to be resolved nationally soon.