YourNNY Your Source for News & Sports in Northern New York

University disenrolls 238 students for not complying with vaccine mandate

SOLEDAD: WELCOME BACK TO “MATTER OF FACT.” THE DEBATE OVER VACCINE PASSPORTS IS OFTEN LOUD, EMOTIONAL AND NOT BASED IN FACT. BUT, FRANKLY, VACCE INPASSPORTS AREN’T A NEW THG.IN UP-TO-DATE IMMUNIZATION RECORDS ARE REQUIRED FOR OVERSEAS TRAVELFO, R SPECIFIC HEALTH CARE JOBS, AND FOR ENTRY TO SCHOOLS AND CHILDCARPRE OGRAMS “THE YELLOW CARD,” AS IT IS OFTEN CALLED, WAS INODTRUCED IN 1959. WITAS REQUIRED FOR TRAVELERS ENTERING COUNTRIES WHERE TYHE COULD BE EXPOSED TO YELLOW FEVER, CHOLERA, OR RUBELLA. WHEN THE SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC REACHED THE U.S. IN 1899, ETH HARDEST HIT STATES MADE VACCINATION MANDATORY. D ANREQUIRED PROOF BEFORE PEOPLE COULD GO TO WORK OR ATTEND SCHOOL, OR RIDE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION. DR. PETER CHIN-HONG ISN A INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CAFOLIRNIA, SAN FRANCISCO MEDICAL SCHOOL. HE STUDIES THE IMPACT OF VACCINE PASSPORTS AS A WEAPON IN THE BATTLE AGAINST THE EVOLVING COVID-19 VUSIR DR. CHIN HUNG, NICE TO HAVE YOU, THANK YOU FOR TALKING WITHE. IS THE ARGUMENT AGAINST THE VACCINPAE SSPORT KW?NE I MEAN, I KNOW THE PASSPT ITSELF IS NOT NEW. BUT HISTORICALLY WERE THERE , ARGUMENTS ABOUT HAVING TO CARRY A VACCINE CARD AS WE?LL DR. CHIN HUNG: NO, THAT ARGUMENT IS NOT NEW AT ALL. IN FACT, AT THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY, PEOPLE WERE DEBATGIN THE PROS AND CONS OF YOU KNOW, GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE AND PERSONAL FREEDOM. BUT AT THE SAME TIME, THERE’S ALSO THIS THREAD OF THOUGHANT D THIS PHILOSOPHY AROUND FREEDOM TO PARTICIPATE IN COMMUNAL AND PUBLIC ACTIVITIES AS WL.EL IF YOU WANTED TO PARTICIPATE IN PU BLIC DISCOURSE, IN PUBLIC LIFE, IN COMMUNITY, YOU KNOW, THAT IDEA OF WANTING TO PROTECT THE HERD WAS REALLY, I THINK, EMERGING AT THAT TIME D JUXTOSAPED AGAINST THIS IDEA THAT PERSONAL LIBERTY WOULD BE SACRICIFED. SOLEDAD: RIGHT NOW, THERE ARE NO CONSISTENT REQUIREMENTS STATE TO STE.AT THERE IS NO SORT OF CENTRALIDZE ORGANIZATION THAT MANAGES IT. IS THAT SOMETHING THAT YOU WOULD RECOMMD?EN DR. CHIN HUNG: LACK OF STANDARDIZATION, LACOFK NATIONAL STRATEGY HAS PLAGUED US FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE COVID PANDEMIC IN THE UNITED STATE AND THIS IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE WHERE I THINK HAVING A NATIONAL PASSPORT, LIKE SOME COUNTRIES — ISRAEL, OR EVEN HAVING A GLOBAL NATIONAL STANDARD THROUGH THE W.H.O. WOULD BE THE WAY TO GO. EVENTUALLY, OF COURSE, WHEN YOU START LOOKING GLOBALLY, THAT GETS INTO, YOU KNOW,EA RLLY ISSUES OF EQUITY BECAUSE NOT EVERYONE HAS ACCESS TO A VAINCC BUT STILL IN THUNE ITED STATES, THERE IS ENOUGH IFUNORMITY OF ACSSCE NOW, A PLETHORA, A SURPLUS OF VACCINES THAT COULD BE THOUGHT OF AT SOME LEVEL. SOLEDA HD:AVE YOU FOUND THAT BECAUSE WE ARE SEEING THE LTDE VARIT,AN THAT THAT IS MOTIVATING PEOPLE NOW TO GET VACCINATED? DR. CHIN-HONG: EXACTLY. I THINK THAT FEAR AND SEEING WHAT’GOS ING ON HAS BEEN A REALLY UNEXPECTED AND POWERFUL MOTIVATOR FOR PEOPLE TO GET VACCINATED. YOU’VE HAD AN INCREASE IN SOME COMMUNITIES BY MORE THAN 100% ,, EVEN IN CALIFORNIA, WHICH IS RELATIVELY HIGHLY VACCINATED AS A STATE, WE HAVE HAD AN INCREASE OF 40% OF FOLKS NCSIE GETTING THE VACCINE, SINCE THE START OF THE DELTA SURGE. RIGHT NOW, WHEN THERE IS SUCH REGIONAL OUTBREAKS, I THINK, YOU KNOW, THERE’S PROBABLY LESS POLITICAL WILL TO DO SOMHIETNG THAT’S COORDINATED AND NATIONAL. BUT IF THINGS START TO HEAT UP AGAIN, AND OF COURSE, WITH COVID, WE NEVER KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN — YOU CAN PREDICT ALL YOU WANT — I THINK THINGS WILL BE MOVING TOWASRD MORE COORDINATED NATIONAL RESPONSE. SOLEDAD: DR. PETER CHIN HUNG, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR INSIGHT AND

University disenrolls 238 students for not complying with vaccine mandate

Related video above: How vaccine passports have been used to fight disease for decadesThe University of Virginia has disenrolled 238 students for its fall semester on Friday for not complying with the university’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, according to a university spokesperson.UVA requires “all students who live, learn, or work in person at the university” to be fully vaccinated for the upcoming 2021-2022 academic year, according to current university COVID-19 policies.Out of the 238 incoming fall semester students, only 49 of them were actually enrolled in classes, and the remaining 189 “may not have been planning to return to the university this fall at all,” UVA spokesperson Brian Coy told CNN.”Disenrolled means you’re not eligible to take courses,” Coy said. He added that students who were enrolled at the university on Wednesday still have a week to update their status at which point they can re-enroll.About 96.6% of UVA’s student body is vaccinated, Coy said. Around 1% of students are currently unvaccinated while about 1.3% were allowed to claim religious or medical exemptions, Coy said.”If you’re unvaccinated, we ask that you wear a mask at all times — indoors or outdoors — whenever you’re around people,” said Coy. “Anyone unvaccinated and has an exemption will have to test once a week, we’re starting once a week: That might go up.”Unvaccinated students without exemptions were repeatedly reminded to get vaccinated between May 20 and July 1 to avoid disenrollment, Coy said.”Students out of compliance received multiple emails, calls, text messages and — in some cases — calls to their parents. Our numbers show that our students responded to this. This means we can have the kind of in-person semester where people can engage in normal ways.”According to the university website, two-thirds of the UVA student body is from Virginia. For the fall semester, the university says there will be around 18,000 undergraduate and about 9,000 graduate students.

Related video above: How vaccine passports have been used to fight disease for decades

The University of Virginia has disenrolled 238 students for its fall semester on Friday for not complying with the university’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, according to a university spokesperson.

UVA requires “all students who live, learn, or work in person at the university” to be fully vaccinated for the upcoming 2021-2022 academic year, according to current university COVID-19 policies.

Out of the 238 incoming fall semester students, only 49 of them were actually enrolled in classes, and the remaining 189 “may not have been planning to return to the university this fall at all,” UVA spokesperson Brian Coy told CNN.

“Disenrolled means you’re not eligible to take courses,” Coy said. He added that students who were enrolled at the university on Wednesday still have a week to update their status at which point they can re-enroll.

About 96.6% of UVA’s student body is vaccinated, Coy said. Around 1% of students are currently unvaccinated while about 1.3% were allowed to claim religious or medical exemptions, Coy said.

“If you’re unvaccinated, we ask that you wear a mask at all times — indoors or outdoors — whenever you’re around people,” said Coy. “Anyone unvaccinated and has an exemption will have to test once a week, we’re starting once a week: That might go up.”

Unvaccinated students without exemptions were repeatedly reminded to get vaccinated between May 20 and July 1 to avoid disenrollment, Coy said.

“Students out of compliance received multiple emails, calls, text messages and — in some cases — calls to their parents. Our numbers show that our students responded to this. This means we can have the kind of in-person semester where people can engage in normal ways.”

According to the university website, two-thirds of the UVA student body is from Virginia. For the fall semester, the university says there will be around 18,000 undergraduate and about 9,000 graduate students.