University of Kentucky to require new hires to get COVID-19 vaccine

All new employees of the University of Kentucky, including student employees, will soon be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, President Eli Capilouto said in an email on Friday.

The vaccination requirement will go into effect for any job posted beginning on Oct. 4, and will take effect for any job offer extended beginning on Oct. 18, Capilouto said.

“As part of our effort to continue our momentum, soon we will require all new hires to the university — including new student employees — to be vaccinated as a condition of employment,” Capilouto said. “This step will help us maintain our vaccination percentage as we move toward 90 percent.”

The requirement allows for religious and medical exemptions, if needed. UK HealthCare employees were already required to be vaccinated as of Sept. 15.

Current employees are not required to get the COVID-19 vaccine. According to UK’s COVID-19 dashboard, 93.4% of faculty and 89.1% of staff are vaccinated.

As of Sept. 22, the most recently available data, 86.6% of students and employees were fully vaccinated or in the process of being vaccinated, according to UK’s COVID-19 dashboard. That percentage only includes students or employees who physically come to the Lexington campus.