​​​​COLUMBUS, Ohio — As Ohio State’s vaccine requirement sets in, the university said Thursday that more than 96,000 students and employees have started vaccination or requested an exemption.

The university is reporting an 86% vaccination rate ahead of Friday’s deadline for getting at least one vaccine dose, Johnson said.

“The community’s response to Ohio State’s vaccine requirement has been overwhelmingly positive,” Johnson said. “Ohio State continues to encourage all members of our community who can do so to get the COVID-19 vaccine, because vaccines provide the best protection against the pandemic.”

Officials said 3,600 students and 2,000 employees requested exemptions, which can be submitted for medical reasons with documentation from a health provider, or for personal and religious reasons with notarization. 

So far, about 200 requests for exemptions have been denied, mostly due to missing documentation or incomplete paperwork, Johnson said. 

“Those individuals have been notified that they can resubmit their requests with proper documentation, and individuals can continue to submit exemption requests. Current requests are still being reviewed,” he said.

Ohio State announced its vaccine requirement on Aug. 24, citing the Food and Drug Administration’s full authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine a day earlier. 

University officials said the vaccine requirement and a campus-wide mask mandate were needed to help combat the high COVID-19 case numbers and hospitalizations in the region. 

For those who are not in compliance, disciplinary steps will be taken gradually, according to the university. Students will be able to finish the semester, but they will be barred from in-person activities in the spring if they do not satisfy the requirement. Employees will be notified that they are not compliant, and they could ultimately be subject to discipline as time goes on, the university said.

According to the university’s COVID-19 dashboard, 63 cases among students and employees out of 13,378 tests have been reported in the last seven days, reflecting a positivity rate of 0.47%.

Vaccinated and unvaccinated students were required to take COVID-19 tests before and after the university’s fall break, which gives students Thursday and Friday off. 

Students who are unvaccinated, including those who submitted vaccine exemptions, are required to take weekly surveillance tests. Vaccinated students are not required to take weekly tests, Johnson said.