All UW students now eligible for COVID-19 vaccination

All members of the University of Wyoming community are now eligible to be vaccinated for COVID-19, another major step toward a return to a traditional fall 2021 semester.

As of Monday, Albany County’s vaccination program entered Phase 2 of vaccine administration under Wyoming Department of Health guidelines, meaning all county residents age 16 and up can schedule vaccination appointments. This includes all UW students.

Already, close to 11,000 county residents — including many UW employees and students with certain health conditions — have received at least the first dose of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine through the county’s vaccination program, a collaborative effort of Albany County Public Health, UW and Ivinson Memorial Hospital. On Saturday, about 315 students who live in UW residence halls and fraternity and sorority houses — who qualified under Phase 1c4 — received the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine, which requires just one dose.

In a press release, UW reminded students that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines each require two doses several weeks apart, so those not planning to return to campus after spring break should consider either returning to receive the second dose or being vaccinated in their home communities.

While vaccinations are not required for UW students and employees, the university is strongly encouraging their use. And, to allow the university to track overall vaccination numbers, students and employees must report their vaccinations once they’ve received them.

Students who receive their COVID-19 vaccinations should upload documentation to the Student Health Service patient portal as soon as their vaccine series is complete. This is as simple as taking a photo of your vaccination document and uploading the picture here: http://patientportal.uwyo.edu, using your regular UW user ID and password.

Questions specifically about the vaccines should be emailed to COVIDVX@uwyo.edu. Additional information is available on UW’s COVID vaccine webpage.