Submission deadline extended for mandatory Attestation and Exemption Form
The following Message from the President was distributed to faculty and staff via their @upei.ca emails.
Dear Faculty and Staff,
It is wonderful to see so many more people on campus for the 2021 Fall Academic Semester. However, the stark reality remains, we are still in the middle of a global pandemic. We were reminded over the weekend of the need to stay vigilant when the PEI Chief Public Health Officer announced an outbreak at a Charlottetown area elementary school.
The University has taken several steps to keep the campus community as safe as possible including the reinstitution of mandatory masking in indoor spaces and the introduction of the UPEI COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccination Policy.
The process for the Policy requires that members of the campus community fill out an Attestation and Exemption Form, regardless of their vaccination status. The Form allows faculty, staff, and students to declare their current status, and is also where they can upload their proof of vaccination, indicate when they will become fully vaccinated, or request an exemption from the Policy due to medical, religious, or cultural reasons.
We have communicated the process to members of the campus community across several channels and have sent and posted reminders via direct email and across our campus communication networks (Campus Notices/Campus Connector), social media, upei.ca, and my.upei.ca. While I thank those who have promptly responded, there are many who have not yet submitted the required Attestation and Exemption Form.
I share with you the following statistics gathered as of this morning, Wednesday, September 15, 2021:
Faculty
Total number of faculty members, including sessionals = 434
Total number who have submitted an attestation form = 297 (68.4%)
Total number who have not yet attested = 137 (31.6%)
Of those who have submitted an attestation form:
Fully vaccinated = 291
Partially vaccinated = 4
Not vaccinated = 2
Staff
Total number of staff members = 708
Total number who have submitted an attestation form = 522 (73.7%)
Total number who have not yet attested = 186 (26.3%)
Of those who have submitted an attestation form:
Fully vaccinated = 503
Partially vaccinated = 15
Not vaccinated = 4
Students
Total number of students enrolled in the Fall Academic Semester = 5,568
Total number who have submitted attestation form = 4,111 (73.8%) (Please note that this is based on our entire student enrolment, including those who are not on campus either due to taking online courses or unable to be here in person)
Total number who have not yet attested = 1,457 (26.2%)
Of those who have submitted an attestation form:
Fully vaccinated = 3,637
Partially vaccinated = 304
Not vaccinated = 170
While the original deadline for submitting the Attestation and Exemption Form has passed, we are extending the deadline for those of you who have not yet submitted your form to no later than Sunday, September 19, 2021.
The Associate Vice-President of Students and Registrar has communicated directly with students and has also extended the submission deadline to September 19, 2021.
Here is the link to the mandatory Attestation and Exemption Form: go.upei.ca/vaccine
Once again, I would like to thank everyone for all their efforts to make our campus safe and welcoming.
Best wishes,
Alaa
Dr. Alaa S. Abd-El-Aziz
President and Vice-Chancellor
