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On March 1, additional people in the state of Wisconsin became eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines. University Health Services are providing vaccines as quickly as possible to members of the campus community who meet the eligibility criteria and as the vaccine supply allows. UHS will email you when an appointment is available for you – please continue to check your wisc.edu email.
Anyone who meets the state’s eligibility requirements can also make appointments for vaccines through their health care providers or other immunization providers in the community.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, new eligible groups include:
- Staff at educational institutions, such as childcare providers and teachers and higher education staff who have direct contact with students;
- Food supply chain personnel;
- Certain utility and communications infrastructure workers;
- Public transport employees; and
- Essential non-primary health care workers.
At UW – Madison, there are many more people who meet current eligibility than there are vaccines available today. UHS receives a vaccine allowance from the state each week, which determines the number of appointments the campus can offer.
Since UHS cannot offer immediate appointments to all eligible individuals, the campus uses state-provided prioritization guidelines, which take into account both risk of exposure and vulnerability to COVID-19.
As of this week, UHS is able to offer appointments to:
- Faculty, staff and teaching assistants currently engaged in in-person instruction, aged 45 and over
- Accommodation and food service staff aged 45 and over
- All childcare and daycare staff
Student teachers participating in K-12 education are vaccinated by Madison and Dane County Public Health.
UHS continues to offer the vaccine to those previously eligible, including those in direct patient care roles, those directly exposed to the virus or virus samples, and active campus members aged 65 and over. more. Since the beginning of January, UHS has provided nearly 10,000 snapshots of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines to employees and students.
The vaccine supply will likely increase by next month, and UHS plans to offer the vaccine to all eligible faculty and staff by the end of May. All students are expected to have access to the vaccine by the start of the fall semester.
“We want to get the shots as fast as possible,” says Carol Griggs, director of operations at UHS. “We know that many people on campus are anxious to get their shots and we ask for a little more patience until more shots are available.”
UHS, the Office of Human Resources and others worked with the Provost’s Office and individual schools and colleges to identify eligible campus members. UHS also assessed eligibility on a case-by-case basis.
If you haven’t received an email inviting you to make an appointment for a vaccine, it’s probably because the university hasn’t yet received enough vaccine to offer it to your population. However, requests sent to UHS will be considered. Please be patient as a small number of employees review a high volume of emails.
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require two doses for the full protection they provide. A third vaccine from Johnson and Johnson is a single dose vaccine. All three vaccines have received emergency use authorization from the United States Food and Drug Administration, a special designation to use safe and effective medical treatments in an emergency, such as a pandemic.
Current COVID-19 vaccines have been provided to tens of millions of Americans since December 2020 and are very safe and effective in preventing vaccinated people from contracting COVID-19 or developing serious illness. A small number of people can still contract the disease after being vaccinated, but are much less likely to require hospitalization. There is preliminary evidence that vaccines have also significantly reduced death rates from COVID-19.
“We encourage everyone to get vaccinated when given the opportunity,” says Jake Baggott, associate vice chancellor and executive director of UHS. “If you are not sure if the vaccine is right for you, talk to your supervisor, your divisional disability representative, or a trusted colleague who has been vaccinated. Getting your COVID-19 vaccine is the best way to protect yourself and those you love from the disease. “
COVID-19 vaccination is not currently required for students or employees of UW – Madison, although employees are encouraged to make appointments for vaccines on work time. UHS is providing modified clinic hours and additional support for second and third shift workers. Once you are asked to make an appointment for a vaccine, you won’t lose your chance if you don’t do it right away.
Answers to other common questions:
What does it mean to have direct contact with students?
Anyone employed by the university who works with students meets the definition of direct contact with students. This means that everyone from instructors to researchers supervise students and employees performing on-campus tasks that involve working with students. Because vaccine supply is limited, UHS begins by offering vaccines to those currently working in person with students. Employees who work with students and currently perform their duties remotely will be offered a vaccine at a later date, or they can be vaccinated through a health care provider or in the community, for example in a pharmacy.
I was vaccinated off campus. How to notify UHS?
Those vaccinated off-campus who wish to ensure their vaccination is registered with UHS should take the following steps once they have received both doses of a two-dose vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) or a single dose vaccine (Johnson and Johnson):
It may take up to five business days for the registration to be reflected in your MyUHS account.
The UHS held a town hall on vaccines on March 4. Closed captions are also available: go.wisc.edu/vaccinechat. A second town hall will take place on March 18, from noon to 1 am: go.wisc.edu/campusvaccinechat.
For answers to many more questions about COVID-19, including questions about vaccines, visit: https://news.wisc.edu/tag/covid-questions/
For more information on UW – Madison’s response to COVID-19, including a searchable FAQ database, go to: https://covidresponse.wisc.edu/
For more information on vaccines, COVID-19, or to contact university health services, visit: https://covidresponse.wisc.edu/covid-19-vaccine-information/
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