Photo: Getty
Duke University is requiring its faculty and staff to get vaccinated against COVID-19, warning employees they will be fired if they refuse to do so.
Ashley Yarber/Replay Photos via Getty Images
“Vaccination is the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones from serious illness related to COVID-19, and it is only way we will bring an end to this pandemic,” Duke Provost Sally Kornbluth and Kyle Cavanaugh, Vice President, Administration wrote in a joint statement.
They added, “We are grateful to the thousands in our community who have already taken this step, and we want to take [sic] make every effort to support those who have not yet gotten vaccinated.”
Duke employees will still be allowed to apply for medical or religious exemption to the vaccine, but those approved for exemption will undergo “daily symptom monitoring, weekly surveillance testing,” and “continued masking.”
Duke also requires its students to be vaccinated for the fall semester. The university said 95% of its students were vaccinated as of Thursday, according toThe News & Observer, and most recently reported 111 active COVID-19 cases on campus.
With the recentFDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine, more universities, companies and businesses are requiring vaccination. Last week, the Louisiana state university system launched plans to beginmandating the COVID-19 vaccineacross campuses, and the University of Virginia previouslyunenrolled over 100 studentswho violated the school’s vaccine policy.
Vaccine.Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty
According to theCDC, about 61% of the total U.S. population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. As the U.S. continues to see a spike in cases due to the Delta variant, Americans are being encouraged toreceive a booster shoteight months after getting fully vaccinated.
The booster shots, which are being recommended for individuals who received either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, will start being administered Sept. 20, with nursing home residents, health care workers and emergency workers first in line. Recipients of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are expected to need an additional shot, as well.
As information about thecoronavirus pandemicrapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from theCDC,WHOandlocal public health departments.PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMeto raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. For more information or to donate, clickhere.
source: people.com
