Hundreds of students who are short one vaccine by the Sept. 30 deadline to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 may receive an extension to avoid being removed from their in-person classes.

• Students who do not expect to have both vaccines against COVID-19 by the deadline have until Oct. 1 to show proof of their first vaccination to the Office of the Registrar to stay in their classes.
• On Oct. 1, students who had been removed from their classes can bring their proof of vaccination to the registrar to be re-enrolled.
• On Oct. 8, students who had been removed from their classes will need approval from both the registrar and their instructors to be re-enrolled.
• On Oct. 18, students who were removed from their classes must complete an appeals process to be placed back into class.

On Sept. 13, Chico State’s Emergency Operations Center announced that students who fail to self-certify or who fail to receive a medical or religious exemption:

• Will be removed from all in-person classes
• Will be unable to access campus facilities after Oct. 1
• Will be unable to register for in-person Spring 2022 courses
• Will lose their on-campus employment starting Oct. 1

Media Relations Coordinator Sean Murphy said students who miss the deadline must bring proof of their first vaccination by Oct. 8 to the Office of the Registrar and fill out a form in order to be placed back into class.

Previously, the university’s EOC provided students with two vaccination deadlines.

“Students are required to have at least one shot before the start of classes on August 23 and be fully vaccinated (two weeks after your final dose) by September 30,” according to the EOC announcement on Aug. 26.

The university extended the deadline for partially vaccinated students to avoid having hundreds of students risk harm to their academic careers, Murphy said.

“We don’t want anyone to be withdrawn and are doing everything we can to encourage students to self-certify by the Sept. 30 deadline and [are] also offering a path back for those who can’t because they waited too long to get vaccinated,” Murphy said.

After the deadline, all new students must provide proof of both vaccinations to the Office of the Registrar.

Students who ultimately receive their second shot will also have to be approved by their respective instructors before returning to classes, according to Murphy.

In July, the CSU system released a statement requiring students and faculty from all 23 campuses to self-certify their proof of vaccination status if they planned on returning to in-person activity during the fall semester.

“Receiving a COVID vaccine continues to be the best way to mitigate the spread of the virus,” said CSU Chancellor Joseph I. Castro in the statement. “We urge all members of the CSU community to get vaccinated as soon as possible, and announcing this requirement now allows members of the CSU community to receive multiple doses of a vaccine as we head into the beginning of the fall term.”

Murphy said if a student is removed, ChicoFlex instructors will be notified which students must attend via online.

After Oct. 18, students removed from classes will have a chance to appeal.

Kimberly Morales can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @kimberlymnews.