Students out of courses for lack of vax proof

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This article was published 11/03/2022 (1473 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE University of Manitoba de-registered approximately 1,280 students — around four per cent of its pupil population — for at least one in-person course this term because they did not upload proof of COVID-19 immunization.

“This was an extraordinary measure,” Chris Rutkowski, a communications officer at Manitoba’s largest university, said in an email. “This temporary (vaccination) requirement supports the safe return to in-person instruction and activity.”

Rutkowski said the vast majority of de-registrations happened early on in the winter semester, which started Jan. 24, although some took place several weeks later, because students re-registered into courses that had an in-person component.

Unvaccinated students can continue studies online, but as long as the vaccine mandate is in place, they are not supposed to set foot in a face-to-face lecture, lab or seminar.

None of those affected have to pay tuition for courses they were ousted from, according to the U of M.

Post-secondary institutes were leaders in the province when it came to announcing vaccine mandates late last summer. Before the provincial government unveiled its vaccine passport system, the U of M and neighbouring institutions co-ordinated plans to require staff and students to have two doses of vaccine to attend their respective campuses in 2021-22.

Nearly all of Manitoba’s major universities and colleges are continuing to enforce the mandate, despite the provincial government easing vaccination-for-entry requirements.

“For the most part, students have been happy with the university’s policies and requiring social distancing and masks,” said Brendan Scott, president of the U of M students union.

Roughly 2,500 undergraduate students — 10 per cent of all UMSU members — participated in a September 2021 membership survey on the back-to-school season and public health protocols. Ninety per cent of total respondents indicated they were fully vaccinated and 86 per cent said they were in favour of the immunization mandate.

According to U of M, approximately 90 per cent of the entire school community is fully immunized.

While in-class instruction was limited in the autumn, the term currently underway was supposed to mark a full reopening, so administration repeatedly sent reminders to students to submit immunization proof via an online portal to avoid de-registrations ahead of the new year.

As far as Scott is concerned, students were given more than enough time to upload their QR codes — a process he said should take fewer than five minutes to complete.

The student leader said he received no shortage of complaints when the mandate was introduced. However, he said the community has accepted the policy at this point.

Arthur Schafer, a bioethicist at the U of M, said students who did not upload immunization records should not have been able to register for a class with an in-person component in the first place.

It seems unfair nearly 1,300 students wasted time and effort in studying for courses they were later ejected from without the opportunity to get accommodations to continue those lessons online, Schafer said.

The ethics professor also criticized U of M for providing little explanation to the public about what exactly informed its decision, such as evidence about the protection two immunizations actually provide against Omicron variant and perceptions about safety, to maintain the vaccine mandate indefinitely.

“A public health crisis does justify many extraordinary measures to combat it, but it only justifies the measures for which we have evidence that they will be effective and that they’re necessary. If (institutions) restrict our liberty… then the justification for that restriction — the burden of proof — is on (them),” he added.

Meantime, students on the Fort Garry campus indicated the school’s continued commitment to vaccine requirements and mask-use have made them feel safe in returning to in-person learning in recent days.

“The number of people that come to the university is a huge amount, compared to a restaurant, so when it comes to that type of scope, you have to put extra measures in to control (spread),” said Mustafa Arif, a civil engineering student.

U of M estimates roughly 40 per cent of its pre-pandemic in-person activity will resume throughout the latter half of the current term. The semester began remotely due to Omicron concerns.

“There have been no complaints at all about safety on campus. A lot of students are just really excited to be back,” said Scott, who oversees the undergraduate students’ union. “I can’t see smiling faces behind the masks, but everyone seems to be walking with a pep in their step.”

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie