One of Rochester’s largest employers will be requiring vaccinations against COVID-19.
The announcement from the University of Rochester on Thursday says that effective September 27, all faculty and staff will have to be vaccinated.
The statement from the top officials with the university and the medical center, says now that the Food and Drug Administration has fully approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for individuals 16 and older, they believe it’s in the best interests of the health and safety of the entire university community to make sure that faculty and staff join with students, who are already required to be vaccinated.
The University of Rochester is the largest employer in the area, and when the FDA recently gave full approval to the Pfizer vaccine, it was expected that more businesses and organizations would start implementing vaccine mandates.
Some other local private colleges, including St. John Fisher and Nazareth Colleges already have vaccine mandates for both students and staff.
But the situation is not as cut and dried for SUNY schools, since there are union contracts in place. But faculty are being strongly encouraged to get vaccinated.