Expanding UHC’s Outreach for COVID-19 Vaccinations

Beginning Monday, May 10, the University Health Center will broaden eligibility for vaccinations at the University Health Center to include the following groups:

• Dependents of UGA faculty, staff, and students who are of age to be eligible for the vaccines (currently 16 years and older, but the FDA is considering authorization for 12 and up in the near future)  
• UGA retirees
• Spouses and significant others of UGA retirees, faculty, staff, and students
• Visitors to campus engaged in research, academic or non-academic summer engagement/transition opportunities
• Those visiting campus as part of Orientation
• Active employees and (primarily) students enrolled at other USG institutions who live in the Athens vicinity and who wish to receive vaccine at the UHC over the summer

As a state-authorized point of distribution (POD) for the COVID-19 vaccine, the University Health Center is obligated to serve its defined community first—in our case, our faculty, staff, and students. However, because we have adequately offered access to all who want the vaccine and have sufficient supply to continue to meet the demands of our primary community, we have been granted permission to expand our scope of service.

To date, we have administered over 20,500 vaccines to more than 12,500 individuals at the University Health Center. Of those, 10,500 are now fully vaccinated. In mid-April, we were administering about 700 – 750 doses per day, but recently, participation has waned to only about 300 inoculations per day. The majority of these are second doses.  

We continue to schedule first dose appointments for students and employees through the UHC Vaccine Portal and have plenty of capacity. For those members of the expanded eligibility groups listed above, please submit this survey at https://ugeorgia.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eDI3Y9XrWdltlEW, and we will reach out to you to schedule the appointment directly.  Please note that the UHC will provide second doses to any student, even if they have graduated before the date of their second dose of vaccine is due.

We are aware that many members of our UGA community have been inoculated at sites other than the UHC, and we fully support those efforts. No matter where you receive your vaccine, our community becomes safer and stronger with every person who is vaccinated. 

As we head into the summer, we urge you to remain diligent in following all CDC and DPH health and safety protocols. Remember that we are still offering free surveillance testing for our faculty, staff, and students, and that our sample collection site will move from Legion Field to the University Health Center on Monday, May 17.  For the safety of your family and friends, please consider getting tested prior to leaving campus for the summer if you are not fully vaccinated.  Appointments can be booked via the Vet View scheduling process.

Also on Monday, May 17, we will discontinue the daily e-mail reminder for the DawgCheck symptom screener. However, we encourage you to stay at home if you become ill or until you have excluded COVID-19 as the cause of your symptoms.  UGA adheres to current CDC quarantine and isolation guidance and requires that it be followed.  If you receive a positive test for COVID-19, you must continue to report it through the DawgCheck Test Reporting Survey. 

We are excited to continue to serve the vaccination needs of the University Community and are committed to seeing that everyone who wants a vaccine, gets a vaccine. Thank you for your efforts to enable us not only to be Dawg Strong/Georgia Strong, but also to Finish Strong this Spring Semester!