The deadline to receive the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine has now passed. The university gave students and staff an additional month to get vaccinated, officials say, pushing the overall deadline to be fully vaccinated until November 15th.
Senior Director of Student Health Services Mark Denys says that even though the deadline to get vaccinated has been pushed forward, it does not change the consequences for non-compliant students.
“Anybody who doesn’t have their first dose of a vaccine, or an approved waiver, they’re not going to be allowed on campus,” Denys said.
Students say they have mixed feelings about the extension.
“Even though the deadline was pushed forward, if you were going to get it at this point, you would’ve already gotten it,” said freshman Rhea Mohite.
Other students, like junior Andrew Ankamah, think extension could be useful for those who may be apprehensive.
“I feel like it’s a good thing just because it gives people who were a little more skeptical more of a chance to decide,” he said.
Anyone who has not been vaccinated, failed to upload their information, or receive an approved exemption will lose all access to university buildings starting October 15th, the university stated. The same thing goes for the final deadline next month.
“November, it’s just going to be making sure that those who got a first dose followed up and got their second dose,” Denys said.
Denys also says one on one conversations between students, advisors, and student health services are all a part of the efforts to encourage compliance.
Currently, there are over 39,000 verified vaccinations, equaling to 96% of the Temple population who have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.
The problem, Denys says, is not that people aren’t getting vaccinated – but instead they’re not uploading their info onto the Student Health Portal.
“We had 100 vaccine uploads in the last 24 hours, 90 percent of them were vaccinated back in March and April. They just, for whatever reason, didn’t tell us yet,” Denys said.
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