Virginia Polytechnic Institute disenrolled 134 students who did not comply with a vaccine mandate last week, according to the Roanoke Times.
Mark Owczarski, associate vice president for university relations at Virginia Tech, said the students had failed to provide proof of vaccination or to claim an exemption on religious or medical grounds, the Roanoke Times reported.
The disenrolled students have the option to re-enroll once they have provided proof of vaccination Owczarski told the newspaper. There was originally an October 1 deadline to comply with the vaccination requirement at the school located in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Oczwarski said that it was possible some of the disenrolled students may have been unable to attend college for personal reasons. (RELATED: ‘Crafted Out Of Thin Air’: Amherst College Students Push Back On COVID-19 Guidelines)
A paramedic with Israel’s Magen David Adom medical service gets a vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on August 24, 2021 at a vaccination centre. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)
Of the 37,000 students at Virginia Tech, 95% have been vaccinated, officials revealed during an Aug. 31 Board of Trustees meeting, Fox News reported.
During the 2020-2021 school year, Virginia Tech lost over $50 million due to the pandemic, when only 6 percent of classes were held in person, according to the Roanoke Times.
“This semester feels more like a normal fall than a pandemic fall,” Tim Sands, president of the university, said, noting that 81 percent of classes will be in person for the fall semester, which started on August 23.
The University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville, reported that it had disenrolled 238 students for failing to provide proof of vaccination, the Roanoke Times noted.