Duke University has told staff they will be sacked if they are not vaccinated by October 1 unless they have valid exemption. Leaders at th...
Duke University has told staff they will be sacked if they are not vaccinated by October 1 unless they have valid exemption.
Leaders at the university in Durham, North Carolina, said staff can apply for a medical or religious exemption, but would not be rehired in the future if they didn't vaccinate.
Employees have until 10am to receive and show documentation of vaccination, according to Wral, but university officials have said that 91 percent of employees have completed the requirement so far.
Duke University tells staff they will be sacked if they are not vaccinated by October 1 unless they have valid exemption
Employees will still have to do daily symptom monitoring and weekly testing, as well as continuing to wear a mask.
Those who have not shown they are fully vaccinated by the deadline will be placed on administrative leave until they get the jab.
They will then have one week to either receive the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine or the first dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.
If an employee does not receive a vaccine in those seven days, they will be terminated.
Those who do receive a Moderna or Prizer vaccine dose in those seven days will have six weeks to provide documentation that they received the required second dose.
The employee will be fired if the second dose is not administered in the six weeks, and those who are fired will not be eligible to be rehired.
Leaders at the university in Durham, North Carolina, said staff can apply for a medical or religious exemption but that 91 percent of staff have already completed the requirement
Duke is currently one of the only major universities in the area to mandate vaccines, and they are a requirement for students and staff.
This comes after Rutgers University was believed to be the first in the United States to mandate the vaccine for students earlier this year.
It announced that all students returning to campus in the Fall 2021 will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
The mandate applies to all three of the school's campus locations: New Brunswick, Newark, and Camden.
While students will be required to be vaccinated for the Fall 2021 semester, faculty and staff are being urged 'get immunized against COVID-19 at the earliest opportunity.'
Students will be required to have proof of their vaccine, even 17-year-olds only currently eligible for the Pfizer vaccine.
Rutgers University is preparing to bring only vaccinated students back to campus this fall
Students will be able to ask for an exemption from getting the vaccine, based on either medical or religious grounds.
Last week, Dr Anthony Fauci said the US should expect more vaccine mandates now that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted full approval to Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 shot.
In an interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Tuesday, he said he thinks approval will help push more Americans to get the Covid vaccine because it might reduce their fears about the safety of the shot.
But he added that businesses and schools may feel more comfortable requiring workers or students to get a jab that has full authorization.
'You're gonna see a lot more [vaccine] mandates because there will be institutions and organizations which previously were reluctant to require vaccinations, which will now feel much more empowered to do that,' Fauci said.
Dr Anthony Fauci said on Tuesday (pictured) that the U.S. should expect to see more vaccine mandates now that Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine receive full approval from the FDA
'That could be organizations, businesses, colleges, universities. We're even seeing it with the military already.'
However, mandates are a contentious topic with many states outright banning laws that would require workers to be vaccinated.
About 90 million Americans who are eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine have not yet done so, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
If 30 percent of that group decided to get vaccinated, that would mean 27 million additional Americans would be getting shots in arms.
Fauci explained that organizations were likely hesitant to require vaccines only approved for emergency use. Pictured: A student receives a first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the California State University Long Beach campus, August 11
Fauci added that more organizations will require mandates either for their workers or for customers to conduct business.
At a news conference on Monday morning, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby confirmed that the full approval will lead to COVID-19 vaccines being mandated for the U.S. military.
'Now that the Pfizer vaccine has been approved, the department is prepared to issue updated guidance requiring all service members to be vaccinated. A timeline for vaccinated completion will be provided in the coming days,' he said.
And Louisiana State University President William Tate announced two weeks ago that the school will mandate that students receive the vaccine following full FDA authorization.
The topic of mandates has been a contentious one with many lawmakers arguing that requiring inoculations infringes on civil liberties.
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