ASU, UArizona, NAU to require COVID-19 vaccinations for employees

PHOENIX - Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona will all be requiring employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19 by Dec. 8, university officials confirmed Friday.

This follows an executive order issued by President Biden in September requiring vaccine mandates for employers with more than 100 workers.

Exceptions will only be granted across all universities for religious or medical accommodations.

Officials cited a reliance on federal funding for public research, employment and education, and said they would be complying with the new order to continue receiving that funding.

The universities released the following statements:

Arizona State University

ASU receives hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding through grants and contracts every year. Continued receipt of these funds is essential to ASU’s mission as a comprehensive public research university as well as to the Arizona economy. Under the recent executive order issued by President Biden requiring all employees of federal contractors to receive COVID-19 vaccinations, ASU is required to ensure that every university employee by December 8 either shows proof that they were vaccinated for COVID-19 or requested an accommodation on medical or religious grounds.

University of Arizona

The University has hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracts, funding critical research, employment, and educational efforts, and already has received amended federal contracts that include this requirement. While we respect individual opinions regarding the vaccine, we will continue with these mission-critical endeavors and will be complying with this new requirement.

Accordingly, University employees, which includes student workers and graduate assistants/associates, must upload vaccine documentation by December 8, 2021 showing they are fully vaccinated to comply with the vaccination requirement, unless they have been granted a religious or disability accommodation. Employees can be vaccinated at Campus Health, or use Vaccine Finder to find a nearby location.

Northern Arizona University

To continue critical research, employment, and educational efforts provided under federal contracts with NAU, we must comply with requirements from the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force. To this end, all Northern Arizona University employees must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 by December 8, 2021. This includes undergraduate and graduate student employees. We respect individual opinions regarding the vaccine and will permit religious and disability or medical accommodations as allowed by federal law.

To ensure compliance, all employees must upload vaccine documentation by December 8, 2021, showing proof of their fully vaccinated status. Employees who have already submitted their documentation or who received their vaccine at Campus Health Services do not have to resubmit.

Employees can be vaccinated at the NAU Fieldhouse and at Campus Health Services. Alternatively, you can use Vaccine Finder to find another location close to you.

Arizona reports 2,399 new COVID-19 cases and 38 more deaths

Arizona health officials are reporting 2,399 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 38 additional deaths.

The state’s daily dashboard released its latest figures Friday, bringing Arizona’s pandemic totals to 1,129,494 cases and 20,491 deaths.

Virus-related hospitalizations were down slightly to 1,663 as of Thursday. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services’ dashboard, the state’s COVID-19 hospitalizations have plateaued between 1,700 and 1,800 in recent weeks after trending downward over the second half of September.

Meanwhile, the percentage of the eligible population that has been at least partially vaccinated stands at 58.1% — or more than 4.1 million people. More than 3.6 million people have been fully vaccinated.

The Associated Press (AP) contributed to this report.