Students are required to be fully up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccines (including the COVID-19 booster shot), and must submit documentation of vaccination to their Wellness Portal.
Online students who do not plan to come to campus are not required to report their vaccine status and there will be no consequence for not reporting it.
Consistent with the recently revised Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH) guidance, faculty, staff, and postdocs are required to receive the primary series of the COVID-19 vaccine (two doses of mRNA vaccine or one dose of Johnson & Johnson), and are strongly encouraged to be boosted. Faculty, staff, and postdocs should upload their vaccine information into Workday. Step-by-step instructions for uploading vaccine information into Workday can be found here: Self Service: Enter Vaccination Information.
Unless you are granted an exemption, failure to report full vaccination will result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.
Undergraduate, graduate and professional students may request an exemption from the University of Pennsylvania COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
Information can be found on the Wellness at Penn website.
Faculty, staff, and postdocs can request an exemption from the University of Pennsylvania COVID-19 vaccination mandate by downloading, reading, completing, and submitting the following forms, as appropriate:
An individual is considered and "up-to-date" once they have received all recommended booster shots based on their age and personal health history. Boosters include COVID vaccines received following the completion of a primary series.
First Booster
According to the CDC, individuals are eligible for a booster five months after their second dose of their primary series of a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, or two months after receiving their initial Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Those who received a vaccine listed on the World Health Organization’s emergency use listing are eligible for a Pfizer-BioNTech booster shot five months after completion of their vaccination series.
Second Booster
According to the CDC, adults ages 50 years and older, in addition to some people ages 12 years and older who are moderately or severely immunocompromised, are eligible for their second booster shot at least four months after the second booster shot.
Visit the CDC COVID-19 Booster Info page for more information.
Penn will accept those COVID-19 vaccines that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Four COVID-19 vaccines have been approved for use. Two are fully approved and two are approved for Emergency Use (EUA). As of July 27, 2022 that list includes:
Penn will accept those vaccines that have been “pre-qualified” or authorized for “Emergency Use Listing” (EUL) by the World Health Organization (WHO) evaluation process. As of July 27, 2022, that list includes:
Visit the Penn Cares Videos webpage to hear from Penn Community members about why they chose to get vaccinated.
Also, learn about the COVID-19 vaccine, some common reasons for hesitancy surrounding it, side effects, efficacy, and more.
Watch the Videos
