University Health Services began administering updated COVID-19 vaccines Oct. 5, according to UHS Interim Director of Medical Services Andrew O’Donnell.
Any student or University of Wisconsin employee can get a vaccination at designated UHS clinics, according to O’Donnell.
To receive a vaccine, UW students and employees should make an appointment through UHS. All that is needed at the appointment is proof of insurance and a Wiscard, according to the website.
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The updated COVID-19 vaccines are free and available to those who are uninsured, according to UHS.
The vaccination clinics are combined with seasonal flu vaccine clinics at UHS this year and there have been over 2,000 updated COVID-19 vaccines administered from these clinics since Oct. 5, O’Donnell said.
“[UHS] has been very committed in the past to make the influenza vaccine widely accessible to students in years past and our hope would be to be able to continue making the COVID vaccine accessible into the future as well,” O’Donnell said.
The clinics are administering the newest vaccines recommended by the FDA and CDC, O’Donnell said. But, the organization of future drives depends on CDC recommendations and the decision of UHS to administer large-scale vaccination drives.
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In a Tweet on Monday, UHS said drop-in COVID vaccinations would not be available at Union South because of a shipping delay from the manufacturer. Students with appointments were not impacted by the delays.
UHS has been working closely with Moderna, the manufacturer of the vaccine, and McKesson, the distributor of the vaccine, to mitigate these delays and provide more vaccines for UW, O’Donnell said. These organizations have been collaborating to find the cause of the delays, expediting the delivery of vaccines and determining if UHS is able to obtain more vaccines from suppliers.
UHS has been ordering as many vaccines as they can, in an effort to meet their rising demand, according to O’Donnell.
“I strongly encourage any staff or students that are interested, to access vaccination,” O’Donnell said. “It’s one of the best tools we have against reducing the spread and the severity of illness or COVID-19.”
