Penn State strongly encouraging, not mandating covid vaccine

Students and faculty at Pennsylvania State University are strongly encouraged to be vaccinated against covid-19, but the university is not mandating the vaccine, university officials said during a virtual presentation Tuesday.

“While we are not currently requiring vaccinations, Penn State is not impartial when it comes to getting vaccinated,” Penn State President Eric Barron said.

Barron said the university strongly encouraged everyone to be vaccinated and urged students and faculty to do so before returning to campus.

“We need as many of you as possible to get a shot as soon as you can,” he said, calling the vaccines “the very best defense that we have against covid-19.”

Students and faculty are encouraged to upload proof of vaccination online.

Unvaccinated resident students, Barron said, will face mandatory covid-19 testing upon return to campus. Unvaccinated students who test positive for the virus when they return to campus will be required to quarantine for 10 days. During that quarantine period, they will not be permitted on campus.

Students who have not been vaccinated will also face covid-19 testing weekly throughout the semester, said Kelly Wolgast, director of the Penn State Covid-19 Operations Control Center.

“Students will be notified when they need to test and there will be significant consequences for noncompliance,” she said.

The university will unveil a covid-19 testing plan for unvaccinated faculty before the start of the fall semester.

Some students and faculty have called for a vaccine mandate at the school. The graduate and undergraduate student government organizations at University Park published a joint open letter last week calling for mandatory vaccinations, according to reports from The Daily Collegian. A faculty-based group, Coalition for a Just University (CJU), launched a petition that boasted 580 faculty signatures, as well as support from 310 community members as of Monday afternoon.

Based on a survey about vaccination status, approximately 77% of students who responded reported that they were fully vaccinated, said Damon Sims, vice president for human resources.

Unvaccinated students will be required to wear masks in the university’s buildings, regardless of covid-19 transmission rates, Barron said. The mask policy for vaccinated students will be based on recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that urge everyone to wear a mask indoors — regardless of vaccination status — in counties where transmission is categorized as substantial or high.

Centre County, home of Penn State’s University Park, is currently experiencing “moderate” rates of covid-19 transmission, according to the most updated data from the CDC.

At branch campuses located in counties with substantial or high transmission, masks will be required indoors for everyone for at least seven days. After that period, university officials will consider transmission rates to determine whether to continue a mask requirement, Wolgast said.

The university will follow contact tracing guidelines from the CDC, she said.

Though covid-19 mitigation measures remained a major concern as university officials prepared to welcome students back to campus, Penn State is preparing for a “robust on-campus experience for the fall semester across all of our campuses,” Barron said.

Students who are enrolled in in-person classes but required to quarantine will not have a remote learning option, Executive Vice President and Provost Nick Jones said. That, he said, is another reason to be vaccinated.

Faculty are encouraged to be flexible and work with students who are missing class because they are in quarantine or isolation, he said.

Quarantine and isolation locations will be provided either on campus or near campus at each of the university’s sites.

University officials repeatedly urged students to be vaccinated and to remain vigilant about the virus. The university’s plans for the upcoming year may be adjusted “as needed,” Barron said.

The university’s announcement comes after a second Penn State student recently died of covid-19 complications. Neil Patel, 20, a sixth semester Penn State Honors College Scholar from Upper Merion Township, died Sunday at a Philadelphia hospital. In June 2020, 21-year-old Juan Garcia of Allentown became the university’s first student to succumb to the virus.