7.27.21

Dear UIS Colleagues —

Today we are issuing our UIS Fall 2021 Employee COVID-19 Vaccination Policy in alignment with the UI System’s recently announced requirement that all employees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the start of the Fall 2021 semester.

The UIS Fall 2021 Employee COVID-19 Vaccination Policy is available to read in full on our United in Safety website. Below is a summary of the key components of the policy.

• All faculty, staff, volunteers and long-term guests working on campus or in an off-campus UIS facility who are able to receive a COVID-19 vaccine must be fully vaccinated with an FDA- or WHO-authorized vaccine and submit documentation confirming such vaccination prior to the start of the Fall 2021 semester on Aug. 20 (see deadlines below).
  
• Medical and religious exemptions will be considered. Employees seeking an exemption must complete an Exemption Request Form—there is one specifically for medical and one for religious—and must be submitted to the UIS Access & Equal Opportunity (AEO) Office in Human Resources (aeo@uis.edu) by Aug. 6 for fullest consideration. Please refer to the full policy for further details on the exemption process.

• Individuals with approved exemptions must comply with mitigation measures, which will include twice-weekly COVID-19 testing, wearing face coverings, physical distancing and following any site-specific requirements if participating in university-sponsored activities.

• Any employee (1) who is not vaccinated, (2) does not have an approved exemption and (3) does not intend to request remote work in compliance with the Remote Work Policy and/or has not already been approved for remote work pursuant to that policy, may participate in an individual assessment process to determine if it is feasible to implement alternate work arrangements for the employee. An employee may propose in writing via the Alternative Work Arrangement Request Form how their job could be restructured in such a way that they could work as an unvaccinated employee and not pose a health risk to others. Full details are within the policy.

• By Aug. 1, everyone should upload documentation confirming their vaccination status or indicate they plan to seek an exemption. See the full policy for details on how to confirm your status; this will depend on if you are fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated, or intend to submit an exemption request or alternative work arrangement proposal.

• Aug. 6 is the deadline to submit an exemption request or your proposal for an alternative work arrangement. Pursuant to the policy, extension requests should be sent to aeo@uis.edu by this time.

This policy aligns with our guiding principles to place the highest priority on the health and safety of our entire campus community. We know the available COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective at reducing the transmission and severity of the COVID-19 virus and its variants; a QnA on commonly asked questions about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine is available on the United in Safety website.

If you have not yet been vaccinated, now is the time to schedule an appointment.

Our regular campus briefing will take place at 1 p.m. Thursday via Zoom, where we will respond to questions regarding today’s announcement. Thank you for your commitment to keeping us all United in Safety.

Karen

Karen M. Whitney, PhD
Interim Chancellor
University of Illinois Springfield

Feedback or questions: covid19@uis.edu