Penn State is requiring all University Park campus employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by December 8 to comply with President Joe Biden’s executive order, the university announced Tuesday.
The White House executive order requires all federal employees and contractors to get vaccinated. Penn State says there are about 1,000 federal contracts at University Park alone with a “collective value that exceeds $500 million in federal funding.”
“For all practical intents and purposes, it has become evident that we must extend the mandate to all employees at University Park,” Penn State President Eric Barron said in the announcement. “The great majority of Penn State employees report being vaccinated, which will accelerate compliance.”
More than 81% of all full-time University Park employees have shared their vaccination proof with Penn State. Among the 2,708 employees who haven’t yet, nearly half are union staff, according to the university’s COVID-19 dashboard.
The vaccination requirement includes all full-time and part-time faculty, staff, technical service workers at University Park as well as students on wage payroll, regardless of whether or not they work on federal contracts, even if they are working remotely.
Employees can choose from the three available vaccines, Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, approved or authorized under emergency use by the FDA. Nov. 24 is the last day individuals can get their final dose to meet the Dec. 8 deadline.
Penn State has not determined and is “closely reviewing” if the vaccine requirement also applies to commonwealth campuses. Vaccination rate among full-time employees across all campuses is 81.8%.
The mandate also applies to those at Penn State at the Navy Yard, which has 100% vaccination compliance as of September.
Penn State said it’s developing information on medical or religious exemptions as well as potential employment sanctions for those who don’t meet the requirement.
