CASPER, Wyo. — With a federal vaccine mandate for most U.S. health care workers remaining intact following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last Thursday, the University of Wyoming said it is working to ensure compliance for affected employees.
While the court rejected an Occupational Safety and Health Administration mandate for businesses employing over 100 people, it upheld the mandate for health care workers in facilities participating in Medicare and/or Medicaid.
The ruling will apply to UW’s family medicine residency centers in Casper and Cheyenne; the Albany Community Health Clinic in Laramie; the Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic; and the Student Health Service.
Employees will receive emails next week directing them how to comply with the requirement.
“The mandate for health care employees does not allow for them to submit to weekly COVID tests in lieu of vaccination,” UW said.
“It does, however, provide for religious and medical exemptions.”
Details on how to qualify and apply for exemptions will be included in the communications to the affected UW employees.
“UW’s actions are in line with a bill passed by the Wyoming Legislature, and signed by Gov. Mark Gordon, allowing UW and other entities that would lose federal funding by not requiring employee vaccinations to go ahead and require them,” the release said.
“But if courts grant injunctions or stays to block the federal mandates, UW and the other state entities won’t implement them while the court cases continue.”
The only existing COVID-19 vaccination requirement is for employees of UW’s Early Care and Education Center, who must be fully vaccinated or be tested weekly for the infection. There are religious and medical exemptions for those employees.
