Ohio State has changed the employee guidelines for reporting vaccination status to a requirement versus a recommendation, per an update from President Johnson on July 27. That update included: “While our vaccination rate is now more than 70%, we know there are vaccinated individuals who are not counted in our total because they haven’t reported their status. … To make informed decisions related to COVID-19 and further enable contact tracing, we are requiring everyone to report whether or not they have been vaccinated by Thursday, Aug. 5. Your personal health information will not be shared publicly or directly with instructors, managers, or leaders.”
Note: According to current university feedback, there are no repercussions for those who choose not to report their vaccination status. The university is setting the expectation that all students, faculty, and staff will report their status as a health measure. The belief is that individuals will understand the seriousness of the issue and choose to comply and provide the information. If you have any questions or concerns related to this announcement, forward them to Jeff McCutcheon (mccutcheon.30@osu.edu) so he can follow up as appropriate. Whenever there is additional guidance available, we will pass it along to our Extension professionals.