As a union, we believe that Temple University has an obligation to protect the health and well-being of its faculty, staff, and surrounding communities. While case counts of COVID-19 are decreasing, it remains a continuing public health threat in the Philadelphia area and the nation at large. Vaccines provide the highest assurance of safety for our members as we return to in-person work, as well as for the students we teach, and are now widely available. Therefore we as a union—in conjunction with Temple’s Faculty Senate—call on the Temple administration to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for all faculty, students, and staff before returning to campus at the start of Fall Semester 2021.
We understand that some students, faculty, and staff may be hesitant about COVID-19 vaccination. Students, faculty, and staff have real concerns about the interaction between their communities and the public health establishment, and we must acknowledge the racist history of the medical community and the American healthcare system. These decades of mistreatment have real and lasting impacts on public trust around vaccination. Additionally, some students, faculty, and staff may have concerns about the fact that the vaccine has been granted Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA, but not yet full approval.
However, both medical expertise and large amounts of data have shown that the vaccines currently available are both effective and safe. The risks to faculty, staff, and students from a partially unvaccinated population are high enough that TAUP feels that concerns raised by individual faculty, staff, and students must operate on a case-by-case basis within a general mandate.
Therefore, TAUP calls on Temple University to require proof of immunization from COVID-19, subject to exception for medical conditions, religious belief or strong moral or ethical conviction, for all faculty, students, and staff before returning to any campus beginning at the start of Fall Semester 2021, unless working remotely or participating in online learning.