2 more Penn State commonwealth campuses, Extension requiring COVID vaccine for employees
Two more of Penn State’s commonwealth campuses — Berks and Schuylkill — will now require their employees get vaccinated for COVID or risk termination, according to a Friday news release from the university.
The announcement comes more than two weeks after Penn State initially told University Park employees they would need to get vaccinated to comply with contractor-related guidelines that fall under an executive order from President Joe Biden. On Oct. 19, the university announced the mandate would also extend to six commonwealth campuses.
On Friday, Penn State revised those impacted once more to include University Park, eight commonwealth campuses and the Penn State Extension. Including the additions of Berks and Schuylkill, other commonwealth campuses with the mandate are Altoona, Behrend, Brandywine, DuBois, Fayette and Harrisburg.
All full- and part-time employees, except those with medical or religious exemptions, must be fully vaccinated no later than Dec. 8. The mandate does not include students — unless they’re on the payroll or supported on graduate assistantships.
Penn State was required to mandate the vaccine after Biden issued two pandemic-related executive orders in early September, one of which required certain government contractors to comply with future COVID-19 safety protocols. Later that month, the relevant task force released 14 pages of guidance that essentially mandated the vaccine for contractors by Dec. 8.
Because Penn State boasts about 1,000 federal contracts worth more than $500 million, many of its campuses fell under the order. All employees are required to be vaccinated, not just those working on federal contracts, because the order says unvaccinated employees cannot come into contact with vaccinated contractors — even in common areas like elevators, cafeterias or parking garages.
“Because the university cannot be sure that covered employees will not interact with unvaccinated employees ... the university determined that it was prudent to make compliance with the executive order,” Penn State spokesman Wyatt DuBois previously said in a written statement.
According to the university’s COVID-19 Dashboard, the vaccination rate for Berks and Schuylkill employees currently stands at 80.4% and 76.1%, respectively. Citing studies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said the vaccinated are 8 times less likely to be infected and 25 times less likely to experience hospitalization or death compared to the unvaccinated.
Because one is not considered fully vaccinated until two weeks after the final dose, that means employees must get their last shot no later than Nov. 24. If opting for the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, employees can wait until Nov. 24. But, if opting for the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the first dose must come by Wednesday, before waiting three weeks for the second dose Nov. 24.
Because Moderna requires four weeks between doses, it is already too late to start that particular vaccination.
More information on religious exemptions can be found on Penn State’s website, while employees can apply for medical exemptions via an online request form. To schedule a vaccine appointment, go to vaccines.gov.
