PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The vaccine mandate for people working and studying at Philadelphia hospitals, colleges and universities is fast approaching.
Health care workers and everyone in higher education, including students and staff, must be fully vaccinated by Monday or they will not be allowed to work or attend classes in-person.
The deadline set by the city's Department of Public Health only applies to health care workers at hospitals and long term care facilities for now. All other health care professionals have another week to get fully vaccinated.
Everyone in these groups was required to have one dose completed by October 15. Anyone not fully vaccinated over the past month had to be tested weekly for COVID-19 in order to work or study, unless were given an exemption.
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City health officials said 74% of adults in the city are fully vaccinated. There is no information available on how many health care workers have received both doses.
It's unclear right now what impact, if any, the mandate would have on staffing levels at most hospitals in the city.
KYW Newsradio reached out to the city to see if there are any anticipated staffing issues as a result of the mandate, and to Temple University and University of Pennsylvania to see how many students and staff members still needed to get their shots.
Regarding its health system, a Temple spokesperson told KYW Newsradio 99.5% of its 10,795 employees are vaccinated, adding, "Our employees have answered the call and taken the personal step of getting vaccinated to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and keep our patients, our visitors, their colleagues, their family and themselves safe. There has been no impact on operations."