From The Columbus Dispatch
By Sheridan Hendrix
Ohio State University’s decision to require its campus community to get a COVID-19 vaccine came as a shock to some when it was announced on the first day of fall semester.
But Ohio State President Kristina M. Johnson said the decision was the end result of months of coordination –– and it’s seeing tangible results. More than 86% of the campus community has been fully vaccinated by Friday, the university’s deadline to have received at least one dose.
Discussions had taken place all summer about what the university would do when Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine received full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which many were predicted could be near the beginning of the school year.
“It wasn’t a surprise to us that Pfizer was likely to become approved,” Johnson said. “We planned so much because we wouldn’t want to be flat footed when it happened.”
On Aug. 24, the first day of classes, Johnson announced in an email to the campus community that OSU would require all students, staff and faculty members to have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Oct. 15. For people receiving a two-dose vaccine, both doses must be received by Nov. 15.
More than 73% of Ohio State’s community had at least one shot already on the first day of school. Johnson’s goal was to have at least 80% of campus fully vaccinated by the fall.
On Friday, the first of Ohio State’s vaccine mandate deadlines, that goal was met.
As of Thursday morning, 86.2% of Ohio State’s entire campus community were fully or partially vaccinated, nearly 90,000 individuals in all. Of just the student population, 87% were fully or partially vaccinated, a total of 57,210 Buckeyes.
The number has slowly ticked up all week leading up to Friday’s deadline, and Johnson is hopeful the university will hit a 90% vaccination rate before long.
“It’s just outstanding,” she said. “This gives us the opportunity to tamp down the delta variant.”
Ohio State has one of the earliest deadlines for receiving a COVID-19 vaccine among schools that announced mandates after Pfizer’s full FDA approval.
Columbus College of Art & Design required its campus community to be fully vaccinated by Friday. As of Wednesday, 81% of CCAD’s student body and 94% of employees are fully vaccinated.
Otterbein University, a liberal arts school in Westerville, is requiring students and staff provide verification of vaccination by Oct. 29, the first day to sign up for spring classes. Everyone at Bexley’s Capital University must provide proof of vaccination by Dec. 17, the last day of this semester.
Outside of Greater Columbus, Ohio University students, staff and faculty need to submit proof of vaccination by Nov. 15, and a week later Miami University’s campus community must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 22.
In June, Gov. Mike DeWine signed HB 244, which, among other things, banned public schools and universities from requiring COVID-19 vaccines while they were still under emergency use authorization. But once Pfizer received full FDA approval, the amendment’s language prohibiting COVID-19 vaccines became largely moot.
Since then, a number of public colleges and universities in Ohio have mandated their campuses be vaccinated against COVID-19 this year or otherwise miss out on an in-person spring semester.
At Ohio State, current students who refuse to be vaccinated without an exemption by the deadline will be ineligible to participate in on-campus experiences beginning spring semester, meaning they will have to move out of their dorms and enroll in online-only courses.
Johnson made it clear that these students will not be disenrolled from the university, and these changes will take place after fall semester as not to disrupt learning.
“Education is at our core. We have to protect that and our students,” she said.
At Otterbein, student vaccination rates have gone up 10% since the mandate was announced in August, said Vice President of Student Affairs Dawn Stewart. About 72% of students had received a COVID-19 vaccine when the mandate was announced on Aug. 26. That number jumped to 82% as of Wednesday.
Stewart said after Ohio State announced its vaccine mandate, it was an easy decision for Otterbein and fellow liberal arts school Capital to implement their own under the guidance of Franklin County Public Health.
“Higher ed institutions are all aligned,” Stewart said.
Otterbein students have until Oct. 29 to submit their vaccination status. If they are unvaccinated and are not exempt from the policy, they will be subject to weekly COVID testing. They will have until Jan. 5 to complete a vaccination schedule, otherwise their spring semester classes will be frozen and eventually dropped.
Stewart said the university wanted to give students every opportunity to get vaccinated before they would be barred from in-person classes. Students who choose not get vaccinated by that date will be unenrolled, but Stewart said they are “always welcome to come back” if they get the shot.
“We wanted our students to have full access to everything we have to offer this semester,” she said.
Otterbein is holding an on-campus vaccine clinic for students from 9 a.m. to noon Friday at The Point, the school’s STEAM innovation center on Collegeview Road.
Both Johnson and Stewart expressed hope that continued success with their vaccination programs mixed with fewer COVID-19 cases in Franklin County will allow them to relax some safety protocols come next semester.
“We would love to get the nod from the county to drop some of our COVID policies if the trends are in our favor,” Stewart said. “We’re hopeful we can say ‘Let’s all take a breath’ and that we’ll see a better spring.”
Photo: Taylor Barger, of Pennsylvania, gets the Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered at an Otterbein University vaccine clinic in April. At Otterbein, student vaccination rates have gone up 10% since its vaccine mandate was announced in August.
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