Harrisburg

Penn State Harrisburg releases vaccination rates for students, employees

Credit: Adobe Stock. All Rights Reserved.

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — Penn State Harrisburg today released current vaccination rates for students and employees at the campus.

At Penn State Harrisburg, 87% of full-time employees indicated they are fully vaccinated, including 100% of administrators, 89% of academic personnel (instructors, researchers and faculty) and 86% of nonunion staff.

Among students, 78% of students living on campus uploaded their proof of vaccination, and 59% of students living off campus uploaded their proof of vaccination. The combined rate for all students at Penn State Harrisburg is approximately 61%, higher than the rate in Dauphin County among similar age groups. With more students continuing to upload their proof of vaccination each day, the actual vaccination rates on campus may be higher. The college is continuing to encourage students who have not reported their vaccination status to do so.

“We are pleased to see such a large percentage of our faculty and staff who are vaccinated. At this time, the overall vaccination rate for our campus, based on the data that has been reported by faculty, staff and students, is higher than that for Dauphin County at large” said Penn State Harrisburg Chancellor John M. Mason Jr., “We appreciate the cooperation of everyone who has already submitted their vaccination status with the University.

 “It is also encouraging to see more students uploading their vaccination status daily as the semester gets underway, but there remains room for improvement in boosting those numbers. We will continue to support all of our students in the vaccination process as we promote the health and safety of the entire Penn State Harrisburg community.”

Penn State Harrisburg has and continues to take a number of steps to support the health and safety of the campus population, including hosting on campus vaccination clinics, providing information on vaccine availability in the community, and promoting vaccinations and other COVID mitigation strategies on numerous communications platforms, including on digital signage, social media accounts, through campus news and email systems, and on the college website.

Vaccination data for all Penn State campuses will be available on the COVID-19 dashboard later this month. Penn State’s 20 Commonwealth Campuses across Pennsylvania vary in size and demographics, with some campuses offering residential experiences while others providing for commuter students.

Penn State previously announced that unvaccinated students and employees, and those who have not disclosed their vaccination status, will be required to submit to weekly testing for COVID-19 throughout the fall semester. Penn State Harrisburg students can upload their vaccination records through myUHS. Campus employees can upload their vaccination records through Salesforce Health Cloud.

Symptomatic testing for students at Penn State Harrisburg is being conducted at University Health Services in the Capital Union Building (CUB).  Students should contact the Health Center to schedule an appointment.  Penn State Harrisburg is continuing to offer voluntary COVID-19 testing for any student or employee, including vaccinated individuals, who are asymptomatic of COVID-19 but want to be tested because of possible virus exposure or other reasons. Student tests will be distributed by the student health center or ordered through the mail via the Vault Health mail-in test kit for Students.

Employees who are seeking testing may order a Vault Health mail-in test kit for Employees or schedule an appointment with a local provider.

The University strongly encourages all individuals to receive a COVID-19 vaccination as soon as they are able if they have not done so already. Throughout the fall semester, vaccines will be made available on or near all Penn State campuses. The CDC’s vaccines.gov website provides a list of nearby providers, including hospitals, doctor’s offices, pharmacies, department stores and grocery stores.

For the latest information about Penn State’s response to COVID-19, visit virusinfo.psu.edu.

 

Last Updated September 14, 2021