The total percentage of individuals vaccinated against COVID-19 on all of Ohio University’s campuses is just below 80% as the vaccination deadline approaches next week.
The deadline to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 is Monday, Nov. 15. OU knows not all individuals will be vaccinated by that date, Gillian Ice, special assistant to the president for public health operations, said during a Nov. 10 COVID-19 briefing. The university is calling and texting individuals to get them in compliance with the mandate. Ice also said there are some individuals who are in the process of getting the vaccine, but they will not be fully vaccinated by Monday.
“Ultimately, our goal is to have the community protected, and we'll get there how we get there,” Ice said.
The total vaccination rate for all OU campuses is 79.9%, according to a Nov. 9 email from Ice. The Athens campus has a 85.6% vaccination rate individually, with 86.6% of students on campus being vaccinated and 83.9% of students off-campus vaccinated.
On campus, Washington Hall has the highest vaccination rate. The dorm has 217 residents, 95.9% of which are vaccinated, according to OU’s COVID-19 dashboard. Pickering Hall has the lowest percentage of vaccinated residents with 72.1% vaccinated as of Nov. 5.
Skyview Apartments, which is owned by OU, has a 100% vaccination rate, according to the COVID-19 dashboard.
The university has received 2,059 vaccine exemptions as of Wednesday. The majority of the requests are for religious reasons, Ice said. The medical exemption has fewer requests, but also much more specific criteria.
A medical exemption request must be signed by the practitioner of the individual applying, according to a previous Post report. The practitioner also has to confirm the basis of the request and provide any additional information to OU’s Vaccine Medical Exemption Review Committee.
Of the exemption requests, 271 have been submitted by employees, and 1,788 have been submitted by students. A total of 1,463 requests have been approved, and Ice said about 400 more will be getting approval soon.
Those who are granted a vaccine exemption must continue with the COVID-19 testing program, Ice said.
