IMPORTANT: UGA VACCINE UPDATE & RELATED SURVEY
As we reported to the campus community last week, the University Health Center has begun to receive limited supplies of COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer. However, the arrival and volume of such shipments remain unpredictable.
We are administering the doses we have received in accordance with the phased approach established by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Georgia Department of Public Health (GDPH). In keeping with those instructions, members of our community over the age of 65 and police officers have been added to the first group to be vaccinated.
We are in the process of developing a more comprehensive plan to vaccinate the entire UGA campus community—paid faculty and staff, as well as our students—in accordance with CDC and GDPH protocols. To do so, we need some information from you to help inform the process. Later this evening, every member of our University community will receive a brief survey in an email from “DawgCheck: Vaccine Information.” It is important that you complete the survey and submit it by Thursday, Jan. 21.
The survey gathers three basic pieces of information: 1) whether you wish to receive the vaccine at UGA; 2) whether you have already received the vaccine; and 3) your age and general health conditions that may pre-dispose you to a more severe case of COVID-19 based on the CDC. (The survey response includes broad categories and does notidentify your specific health conditions.)
Your responses will be kept confidential and will help to inform our plan for broader vaccination of the campus community once regular shipments of the vaccine begin to arrive. We will continue to follow CDC and GDPH guidelines for administration until everyone who wants a vaccine gets a vaccine. You will be notified as additional information becomes available.
We thank you in advance for your participation in this important survey, and we ask for your continued patience as we plan for an orderly and efficient process to distribute the vaccine to our campus community. To date, we have not seen any side effects from our administration of the vaccine other than flu-like symptoms and sore arms. If you have any concerns about taking the vaccine, please contact your personal physician. For more information on the vaccine and the University Health Center’s process for notification and appointments, please see https://www.uhs.uga.edu/healthtopics/covid-vaccine.
In the meantime, we remind you that it is critical that each member of our community, vaccinated or not, continues to observe all the protections that have served us well to date. We urge you to remain diligent in washing your hands, wearing a mask, maintaining social distancing, and avoiding crowds, even if you have already received the vaccine.
We also strongly encourage you to take advantage of the expanded surveillance testing that we are offering through January 22: up to 1,500 free tests per day at Legion Field and pop-up locations. Testing at Legion Field can be scheduled at https://clia.vetview.vet.uga.edu/. Walk-up appointments can usually be accommodated at Legion Field, and pop-up saliva testing does not require pre-registration. For planning purposes, precise sites and schedules for the pop-up clinics are published on the UHC’s website and its social media as they are secured: https://www.uhs.uga.edu/healthtopics/covid-surveillance-testing. Please note that UGA is closed on Monday, January 18 in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday and that there will be no testing on that date.
Remember: with each person we vaccinate, our community becomes safer. Together, we are Georgia Strong/Dawg Strong.