A prospective student eager to start her college career at Brigham Young University-Hawaii was accepted, then subsequently denied admission after submitting a medical exemption to forgo a required Covid-19 vaccination.
In posts uploaded to social media, Olivia Sandor explained after being accepted by BYU-Hawaii and learning of the school’s vaccine requirements on June 16, she was advised by doctors to apply for a Covid vaccine exemption due to a medical episode following a vaccine in 2019 that left her briefly paralyzed.
“…In February of 2019 I was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome. Guillain-Barré is an auto-immune disease caused by vaccines which resulted in me being hospitalized and being paralyzed from the waist down,” Sandor wrote in an Instagram post, going on to explain she made a miraculously recovery.
“Having Guillain-Barré means I am not able to be vaccinated. It could end in permanent paralysis, and possibly death if it spread up in my body.”
“With that being said, I reached out to BYU H and got with my doctors to submit an exemption form. BYU made this sound very accessible for those who had medical conditions and were in need of one. My family and I were all sure I would be granted one due to my condition. After three weeks, I heard back from them. My medical exemption was denied,” Sandor wrote.
Sandor says she reached out to the university president, who eventually responded, saying the university would re-review the case with a medical panel.
“BYU Hawaii has once again denied me a medical exemption,” Sandor wrote on Monday.
In a TikTok update which has thus far garnered over 454,000 views in one day, Sandor elaborated on her plight and warned others about the university’s discrimination.