University of Missouri system to require vaccines for staff to comply with federal order
The University of Missouri system’s governing body on Thursday approved a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for all four campuses’ faculty, staff and student employees in order to comply with a Biden administration executive order for federal contractors.
The decision goes back on a previous resolution passed by the system’s Board of Curators in September not to implement any mandates. Like other universities, the UM system concluded violating the contractor rule would jeopardize the “hundreds of millions” of dollars it receives in federal grants for veteran health care as well as medical, defense and agricultural research, system president Mun Choi said Thursday.
Employees will need both doses of the vaccine by Jan. 4, which means they have about two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half weeks to get the first shot, depending on the manufacturer.
The federal rule, outlined in an executive order President Joe Biden issued in September, requires a wide range of employees for federal contractors to be vaccinated, with exemptions allowed for medical and religious reasons. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has sued to stop its implementation.
Public universities in Kansas decided last month to implement the requirements. The University of Missouri began warning employees two weeks ago they may also be subject to the executive order.
Gov. Mike Parson also has issued an executive order barring state agencies from punishing any employee for not following a federal vaccine order due to a religious or medical exemption.
At the suggestion of Curator Greg Hoberock, Choi indicated the schools will make accommodations those who refuse a vaccine by changing their work areas. That way, the employees would fall under an additional exemption for employees that the universities determine don’t have any contact with those whose work is related to federal contracts.
“With the three exemption categories I believe that we will be able to meet most of the needs of those that may not want to get vaccinated,” he said. “In addition to that, where we can segregate those employees to minimize their contact... we will do that.”
But doing so would be burdensome in some instances, Choi said, giving the example of faculty members working on a federal contract who share a microbiology laboratory with non-contracted faculty.
“Yes, we can duplicate that core facility, but hte time that it would take to duplicate it will be on the order of about a year or more, so that cuts back on our ability to continue with their research project,” he said. “But where we can, I want to challenge our team to make that possible, where we can segregate.”