University of Kentucky starts to give COVID-19 vaccine to some faculty and staff
The University of Kentucky is beginning to vaccinate faculty and staff against COVID-19 who work outside of health care settings, a university spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Along with continuing vaccinations for health care workers and providers, UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said the university has begun to invite members of campus who are outside of the initial vaccine healthcare groups in an effort to follow “state guidelines which include the direction to distribute the vaccines you receive as quickly as possible each week...”
Blanton said those outside of healthcare settings receiving vaccine invitations include “faculty and staff over the age of 65, custodial and facilities staff who have high levels of in-person interactions on campus each day and members of our student services staff who support students in a number of critical roles.”
Students could also receive a vaccination invitation if they work in a health care or other clinical setting, Blanton said. Other students who work in housing, dining or other areas where they may encounter larger numbers of people could also receive an invitation.
Some of those who are invited to be vaccinated received an invitation email on Wednesday from UK HealthCare. According to an online UK FAQ on vaccines, students and employees eventually will be offered the vaccine “based on several individual factors outlined in the state’s distribution guidance.”
“All members of the UK community will be invited to vaccinate based on this guidance and individual factors, but it will take time to reach all members of our community who wish to be vaccinated. While you should not be concerned if you have not yet received an invitation to vaccinate, you can direct questions to vaccine@uky.edu and a staff member will return your email as soon as possible,” the FAQ states.
Next week the university will be announcing plans to centralize vaccination distribution into a single location “as we continue to vaccinate health-care workers, other health providers and essential members of the campus community.”
UK has also begun some initial conversations with Fayette County Public Schools on how the university might partner with the school system in “vaccinating these critical educators and workers in our community,” Blanton said.
According to screenshots of the vaccine email invitations provided to the Herald-Leader, invitees need to accept or decline the vaccination, as it is “highly recommended, but it is not mandatory.”
“Failure to respond within 24 hours may mean you will need to wait until a later phase,” the email stated. UK HealthCare is offering both the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Moderna vaccines. After accepting the invitation, the user will be directed to a sign-up schedule and will be given a location on where to receive the vaccine.
“We are working to vaccinate in alignment with the state guidelines, while also working to ensure we use the doses we are provided with,” the university wrote in an online post. “We started with health care workers. As we continue to vaccinate them, we will be working through other categories as defined by the state.”
In a Monday email to campus, UK President Eli Capilouto wrote that over 5,700 frontline UK HealthCare workers had been vaccinated and he wrote that “several thousand more will be vaccinated over the next several days, largely completing the first-priority list for health care workers, as set forth by the state.”
“Our goal is to be in alignment with the state’s guidelines of who to vaccinate when — both on our campus and in the broader community — while using the supplies we are given each week as completely and quickly as possible,” Blanton said.
This story was originally published January 13, 2021 at 2:20 PM.