Vaccination Update
Cowboy family,
I am pleased with how well our campus has worked together this fall to keep our campus community safe. According to our dashboard, more than 17,000 students and employees have been vaccinated against COVID-19, which science has proven is our best defense against the virus. In light of new federal mandates, now we need your help to do even more to keep our campus safe.
On Sept. 9, President Biden issued an Executive Order requiring COVID-19 vaccination for all federal employees, contractors and others. Oklahoma State University has numerous federal contracts that exceed $90 million in fiscal year 2021 alone, making our university subject to this new federal contractor mandate. The vaccine mandate applies to those who work on covered federal contracts (even working remotely), those who work in connection with covered federal contracts and those who work at the same location as employees who work on covered federal contracts or in connection with covered federal contracts. The mandate also applies in all locations in which covered federal employees work.
With this in mind, all OSU employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no later than Jan. 4, 2022, unless the employee is legally entitled to an accommodation due to a medical or religious exemption. The guidance does not include testing as an alternative to the vaccine requirement. Employees who have had a prior COVID-19 infection are also required by the Executive Order to be vaccinated. Religious and medical accommodation requests may be found at the Employee Vaccine Portal, which has been set up specific to this new federal mandate.
How the Mandate Applies
The vaccine mandate will apply to all OSU employees, including full-time and part-time faculty and staff. Currently the mandate applies to Stillwater, OSU-Tulsa, and Center for Health Sciences locations as well as OSU Extension. All OSU Extension and OSU Ag Research personnel statewide are considered OSU-Stillwater employees.
The mandate also applies to graduate and undergraduate students employed by the university, as well as all students supported on graduate assistantships. This mandate also applies to student employees on campus, but at this time the executive order does not apply to our general student population. The mandate does not apply to employees who perform work exclusively outside the United States.
Vaccination Mandate Timeline
If you are not yet vaccinated, we strongly urge you to start the process immediately. Individuals are considered to be fully vaccinated two weeks after the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine or two weeks after the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, which require three weeks or four weeks between doses, respectively.
Employees must have received their final vaccination shot by Nov. 24 in order to meet the Jan. 4 deadline.
For your convenience, University Health Services on the Stillwater campus is providing both the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. In Tulsa, Employee Health will be scheduling vaccine appointments (Moderna and Johnson & Johnson).
Showing Proof of Vaccination
Employees who received their vaccination from University Health Services, may provide consent in the Employee Vaccine Portal to securely authorize the submission of your vaccination records to OSU Human Resources. Employees vaccinated outside of UHS may upload their proof of vaccination through the Employee Vaccine Portal.
Most of your questions are addressed in our frequently asked questions, and we will continue to update these with additional information regarding the logistics of implementing this mandate.
Questions may be directed to covid19@okstate.edu and will be answered in a timely manner. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work together to keep our campus community safe and comply with this federal mandate. We will continue to monitor the legal and regulatory landscape and provide updates as appropriate.
Sincerely,
Dr. Johnny Stephens
Senior Vice President for Health Affairs