University of Dayton pauses employee COVID vaccine requirement after federal court ruling

DAYTON — Following a ruling made earlier this week in federal court suspending the federal contractor vaccine requirement in Ohio, the University of Dayton announced their COVID-19 vaccine mandate has been paused due to the ruling, according to university officials.

>>RELATED: Federal judge halts vaccine mandate for federal contractors, subcontractors in Ohio

On Tuesday, a federal judge in Kentucky issued a ruling that prohibited the federal government from enforcing the vaccine mandate for federal contractors and subcontractors in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Following that ruling, UD said their requirement will be paused for now.

>>RELATED: Healthcare-related vaccine mandate put on hold by federal judge

“With this development, the University will pause any enforcement action against employees, including student employees, who work in these states and who have not complied with the requirement to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 8 or to have requested an exemption to maintain their employment status,” university officials said in an email to campus members Friday.

>>PREVIOUS COVERAGE: University of Dayton to require COVID-19 vaccination for all staff, student employees

Before Friday’s announcement, UD officials said 96 percent of all employees had already complied with the federal contractor mandate for vaccination or had received an exemption. Of then entire UD campus community 78 percent are vaccinated.

“We want to thank all of our students, faculty and staff who have complied already. Through your efforts and the federal vaccination mandate, we have achieved a high vaccination rate. This has helped reduce the spread of the virus on campus and allowed for in-person education and research to continue throughout the semester without major disruption,” UD officials said in the message.

University officials said they are still encouraging all students and staff members to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Additional details were not released. We’ll update this story as we learn more.

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