OU Human Resources announced the extension of the university’s deadline for required COVID-19 vaccinations for all employees from Dec. 8 to Jan. 4, 2022.
In a Thursday email following OU President Joseph Harroz’s Oct. 29 announcement and President Joseph Biden’s Sept. 9 executive order, OU Human Resources wrote all OU employees must be fully vaccinated with a World Health Organization approved COVID-19 vaccine.
Personnel considered university employees include all faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate student employees, according to the email, alongside scholars, research scholars and associate research scholars. The executive order applies equally to full-time, part-time, temporary and PEAK employees.
This vaccine requirement doesn’t include the booster shot or extend to students who aren’t employees. The OU American Association of University Professors, however, wrote in a press release Monday that it hopes Harroz will consider widening the reach of the requirement to all community members, as well as a university-wide mask mandate.
OU Human Resources wrote that it strongly encourages unvaccinated employees to get vaccinated as soon as possible because some vaccination procedures take weeks.
Medical or religious accommodations are and remain confidential, but employees must send in a formal request. The processes to provide a request for an accommodation or proof of vaccination are still being finalized, but more information will be provided next week by OU Human Resources.
