SOUTH KINGSTOWN – With more than 17,000 students arriving on campus this September and a roughly 95% COVID-19 vaccination rate, Gov. Daniel J. McKee and public health officials are pointing to the University of Rhode Island as an example for organizations throughout the state, including labor unions that have yet to agree to a vaccine mandate and unvaccinated health care workers who face an Oct. 1 deadline to get the vaccine.
“If we could do that on a statewide basis, we’d be doing victory laps,” McKee said. “Follow the example of so many young people here on campus today and get your shot.”
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McKee held his weekly COVID-19 update on Thursday from the alumni center at the University of Rhode Island in South Kingstown, celebrating the high rate of vaccination among the student body. The visit comes after the labor union representing the URI faculty just agreed to a vaccination requirement that requires faculty to get their final vaccination dose by Oct. 15.
Rhode Island was the first state in the nation whose colleges and universities imposed vaccine requirements on all of their students, including 62,000 who come from the Ocean State and 40,000 to 70,000 from out-of-state, McKee said.
“That’s the model we want to strive for with employers, businesses, organizations and institutions statewide,” said R.I. Department of Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott.
Overall, there’s 162,000 eligible people in Rhode Island who are unvaccinated, McKee said, with 754,281 people now at least partially vaccinated, and 687,744 fully vaccinated. Rhode Island is ranked fifth in the country for the most fully vaccinated people per capita, with 75.9% of adults fully vaccinated and 65% of all eligible people fully vaccinated.
The state continues to work through concerns about how employee vaccine requirements will impact staffing levels at various health care facilities, as a result of employees leaving for jobs that don’t require them to get a COVID-19 vaccine. In response to questions about the state-imposed vaccine mandate for health care workers, McKee and Alexander-Scott said Rhode Island is standing firm on its Oct. 1 deadline. Employees in the industry could potentially lose their jobs without an approved medical exemption.
“Different groups have raised great concerns about staffing levels. We hear them,” Alexander-Scott said. “We can exercise discretion and reasonable flexibility, but ultimately we need people to be vaccinated. … We want to keep the date and help people do what they can do to close the gap and make sure people are cared for safely by people who are vaccinated.”
If some nurses or other health care workers continue to refuse, despite the educational efforts of the their employers, their colleagues and the R.I. Department of Health, ultimately they’ll lose their jobs on Oct. 1, she said.
“We’re hoping that no one does,” Alexander-Scott said. “We’ve really been pushing on the education and engagement. But we’re also making it clear, this is where we draw the line.”
Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com.
