Penn State expands employee vaccine mandate to 6 branch campuses

Penn State is extending a covid-19 vaccination mandate to all faculty and staff at University Park to six of its regional campuses.

The mandate is an effort to comply with President Joe Biden’s executive order requiring federal contractors to vaccinate employees. Penn State has a number of contracts and research agreements with the federal government.

University officials said the new requirement will take effect Dec. 8 for all faculty at its main campus as well as campuses in Fayette, Altoona, Media, DuBois, Erie and Harrisburg where federal contract work is conducted. Local campuses at New Kensington and McKeesport were not included.

Penn State originally announced the mandate for its main campus on Oct. 12. The six branch campuses were added to the list this week.

University vaccine policies varied from school to school across Pennsylvania this fall. Some private institutions including Carnegie Mellon, Chatham, Duquesne and Seton Hill universities required students and faulty to be vaccinated. Most public institutions in the region did not.

Penn State, a research university with 20 locations across the state, stopped short of mandating vaccines this fall. Instead university officials opted to strongly encourage vaccination and require those who have not been vaccinated to undergo weekly testing.