PSU extends vaccine mandate to faculty, staff at 6 campuses

Penn State announced Tuesday that it has extended its COVID vaccine mandate to all employees at six commonwealth campuses — including Altoona, Behrend, Brandywine, DuBois, Fayette and Harrisburg.

The university initially announced last week the mandate would apply only to University Park faculty and staff, in order to comply with President Joe Biden’s Sept. 9 executive order requiring vaccination from federal contractors. However, the university acknowledged at the time that more of its 24 campuses might be subject to the executive order and that future announcements would be possible.

All employees at the six commonwealth campuses, both part-time and full-time, 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.

“After a review of the university’s federal contracts, we found that these campuses are home to government projects that make them subject to President Biden’s executive order requiring COVID-19 vaccines for federal contractors,” Kelly Austin, interim senior vice president for commonwealth campuses and executive chancellor, said in a written statement. “While the mandate only applies to six commonwealth campuses at this time, we continue to strongly encourage our faculty and staff — and students — at every campus to get vaccinated to protect themselves and our campus communities.”

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.

According to the university’s COVID dashboard, most of those six commonwealth campuses already have employee vaccination rates on par with University Park’s 81.5% rate. DuBois is the lowest at 76.3%, followed by Altoona (76.4%), Fayette (81.9%), Behrend (82.6%), Harrisburg (83.2%) and Brandywine (85.2%).

At every affected campus, the group with the lowest vaccination rate comes from union employees. (On none of the impacted campuses have union staff surpassed a confirmed vaccination rate of 50%.) Teamsters Local Union No. 8 — which consists of workers in hospitality, maintenance, landscaping and various other support roles — previously needed a separate negotiation before agreeing to Penn State’s universal masking policy. But, because the vaccine mandate is a federal requirement, union members must also comply.

All employees at the campuses are required to get the vaccine, not just those working on federal contracts, because of guidance from the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force, which Biden’s executive order calls for contractors to follow. The task force issued protocols that say even employees not directly working on a federal contract must be included in the mandate, unless the university can guarantee that unvaccinated employees will not come into contact with the vaccinated staff working on the federal contracts — even in common areas like elevators, dining facilities, parking garages, etc.

Because of the federal deadline of Dec. 8, and because individuals are not considered fully vaccinated until two weeks after a single shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or the second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, Nov. 24 is the final day that employees can technically get their final dose. Employees can only be excluded from the mandate if they are entitled to a medical exemption or an accommodation for religious beliefs. The university said such a process will be “forthcoming.”

As for those who do not comply with the mandate and have no exemption, university spokesperson Wyatt DuBois previously told the CDT they will be subject to disciplinary processes already in place that can result in termination. He did not detail what such processes entail, however.

Those interested in getting vaccinated can find providers by visiting vaccines.gov. Many local retail pharmacies, such as CVS and Rite Aid, also have vaccines readily available.