COLORADO, USA — A day after the deadline for CU Boulder's vaccination reporting requirement, not everyone on campus has submitted their status.
The university said 85% of students have submitted their status to the online portal, and of those, 95% are vaccinated.
When students submit, they have two choices: upload their vaccination card or claim an exemption.
“So if somebody has an objection to receiving the vaccine on personal grounds, that they oppose the vaccine for some reason, we are not denying exemptions for them," Patrick O'Rourke, CU Boulder's Chief Operating Officer, said. "What we’re seeing though is it’s an extraordinarily low rate of people who are claiming any type of exemption."
Despite the deadline, students won't face consequences for not reporting right away.
O'Rourke said they will first reach out to everyone who has not submitted their status. But eventually, students could be stopped from registering for classes.
“We’re not doing this just because we want to know what people’s status are, but it helps us to keep classes in person," O'Rourke said. "It helps us to be able to deliver upon a full college experience for our students."
Unvaccinated students at CU Boulder will be required to take a training on the school’s COVID-19 protocols, but they won’t be required to get tested regularly unless President Joe Biden mandates it.
Colorado State University also has a vaccination requirement. Unvaccinated students and students who haven’t submitted their status are required to get tested twice a week.
"85.6% of our student population is at least partially vaccinated, with the vast majority of those fully vaccinated," said Lori Lynn, Executive Director of the CSU Health Network and co-chair of the CSU pandemic preparedness team.
Lynn said the university will also accept all exemption claims through their reporting site, and students who don't report could be penalized for violating the student code of conduct.
Recently, CSU made space in Westfall Hall to be used as isolation areas in case of an outbreak.
“We are going to have a number of students move from the 11th and 12th floor," Lynn said. "I think it is to create contingency space. We do not currently have a need for that space, but we also know we don’t want to be caught off guard should something happen."
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