Employees at University of Missouri Are No Longer Required to Show Proof of Vaccination

The University of Missouri System has suspended its COVID-19 vaccine requirement for faculty, staff and student employees after a federal judge blocked the federal government from enforcing Executive Order 14042, the vaccine mandate for federal contractors, the university has announced.

According to the university, employees will no longer have to present proof of vaccination or to submit approved exemptions, Erudera.com reports.

“Last week, we communicated with you about the university’s steps to comply with Executive Order 14042, the federal vaccine mandate for federal contractors. We noted that the mandate could potentially be adjusted or rescinded due to court actions,” the statement signed by UM System President Mun Choi, UMKC Chancellor C. Mauli Agrawal, Missouri S&T Chancellor Mohammad Dehghani and UMSL Chancellor Kristin Sobolik reads.

As per those who have already uploaded proof of vaccination, they do not need to take any further action as their documentation will remain on file. Moreover, the university also explained that employees who have requested an exemption are no longer required to take any further action.

“The university will suspend the processing of the request and keep it pending. If the vaccination requirements come back into effect at some point in the future, exemption requests will be processed at that time,” University of Missouri says in a statement.

In its statement, the university also pointed out that the vaccination requirements that have been introduced in August 2021 for University of Missouri Health System employees and for UMKC faculty, staff and students who should work directly with patients, continue to apply.

University administrators will continue to update employees on any changes that could have any impact on the system.   

Employees at several universities in the United States have been required to vaccinate against COVID-19 in order to comply with President Joe Biden’s executive order, which requires certain employees of federal contractors to be fully vaccinated by January 18, 2022, including the University of Tennessee (UT) Knoxville, University Of South Carolina, University of Oklahoma, and others.  The latter has obliged its faculty, staff, or student workers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by January 4, 2022.

The number of universities asking students and employees to vaccinate continues to grow, in particular in the United States and Europe. According to Erudera’s University Vaccine Requirement Checker, some of the top US universities that currently require COVID-19 vaccine are:

• Harvard University
• Princeton University
• Stanford University
• Yale University
• Columbia University
• Cornell University
• New York University
• University of Chicago