Junior Fuimaono from the Panmure Samoan Assemblies of God gets his Covid vaccine along with other members of the Pacific community. Video / Dean Purcell
A US university student says he has been locked out of his classes for not receiving the Covid vaccine - despite all of those classes being online.
Logan Hollar, 22, is pursuing a degree in psychology from Rutgers University in New Jersey and is now appealing the ruling, which willsee him miss weeks of his final year even if his appeal is approved.
Earlier this year, Rutgers became the first US university to mandate vaccination for anyone stepping foot on campus.
NJ Advance Media reported that Hollar decided to take all his classes from his home, over 100km away.
"I'm not in an at-risk age group. I'm healthy and I work out. I don't find Covid to be scary,' Hollar, 22, told the news outlet.
"If someone wants to be vaccinated, that's fine with me, but I don't think they should be pushed."
Rutgers does offer exemptions on medical and religious grounds, neither of which apply to Hollar.
They also do not apply the mandate to students taking online-only courses, but Hollar has fallen between the gaps after electing to take his classes online instead of attending in-person.
"When they put out the guidance in March, I was reading through all the verbiage, which was if you plan to return to campus, you need to be vaccinated," Hollar said.
"I figured I wouldn't be part of that because all my classes were remote."
Logan Hollar. Photo / Instagram
On August 27, Hollar found that he was locked out of Rutgers' online student portal and called the university's vaccine hotline, to be told he still needed to get the jab.
He has since applied for an exemption, which could take weeks to process.
Hollar's stepfather Keith Williams said he was "dumbfounded" when he learned of the ban.
"I believe in science, I believe in vaccines, but I am highly confident that Covid-19 and variants do not travel through computer monitors by taking online classes," Williams, who is vaccinated, said.
A Rutgers spokeswoman told NJ Advance Media that the university had made its policies clear to students.
"Since March, we have provided comprehensive information and direction to students to meet vaccine requirements through several communications channels, including our university websites, direct emails, and messages relayed throughout the registration and enrolment processes," Dory Devlin said.
Devlin cited school policy which notes: "Registering for classes that are fully remote (synchronous/asynchronous) is not the same as being enrolled in a fully online degree-granting program."
Hollar told NJ Advance Media that he would leave the university before getting vaccinated.
"I find it concerning for the vaccine to be pushed by the university rather than my doctor," he said. "I'll probably have to transfer to a different university."
"I don't care if I have access to campus. I don't need to be there. They could ban me. I just want to be left alone."
