c/o The Middletown Press

The University’s Pandemic Planning Committee released an updated vaccination plan for the spring semester announcing that students will receive the two-dose Pfizer vaccine instead of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine in a campus-wide email on Wednesday, April 14.  This followed another all-campus email on Tuesday, April 13 which announced that COVID-19 vaccination will be a requirement for all students before returning to campus for the fall 2021 semester, barring approved religious or medical reasons. Students can upload proof of vaccination to the Davison Health Center. 

The University’s previous plan to administer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was disrupted after the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommended that distribution of the vaccine be paused after adverse symptoms of blood clots were reported in six women. In lieu of being able to offer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the University collaborated with the Community Health Center (CHC) to find an alternative method of vaccination in consultation with the Connecticut Department of Public Health. 

“The FDA did the correct thing,” Medical Director Thomas McLarney wrote in an email to The Argus. “Even though the cases of blood clots are rare, this certainly needs to be looked at in greater detail.”

The CHC, which hosts the clinics responsible for vaccinating University students, will now administer the two-dose Pfizer vaccine. 

“Students who choose to be vaccinated at this clinic will receive the first dose on their originally scheduled date and the second on May 15 or 16, three weeks after the initial dose,” Dean of Students and Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Rick Culliton wrote in the all-campus email on April 14.

While graduate and undergraduate students are eligible to sign up for a vaccination appointment, remote students, and those in isolation or quarantine at the time of their appointment are not eligible. However, McLarney noted that students can get the vaccine elsewhere in Middletown if they desire. 

“One may certainly sign up elsewhere in Middletown as another option,” McLarney wrote in an email to The Argus. 

In the all-campus email on April 13, Culliton emphasized the important role campus-wide vaccination will play in returning to a semblance of normalcy next semester. 

“With all students fully vaccinated before Arrival Day in the fall, our campus community will be closer to achieving much-desired herd immunity,” Culliton wrote. 

Faculty and staff are highly encouraged to get vaccinated when eligible, though they are not required, and the University has asked that employees report their vaccination status via WesPortal. 

Katarina Grealish can be reached at kgrealish@wesleyan.edu