Salisbury University will be hosting a vaccination clinic for all its faculty and staff members, as well as any vaccine-eligible students, in Maggs Physical Activities Center on Tuesday.
SU President Charles Wight said the site will be led by the Wicomico County Health Department and will be exclusive to campus members.
With the state now in Phase 2B of Maryland’s vaccination distribution plan, all SU employees, including student workers, are eligible to receive the vaccine. All Marylanders at least 16 years old with an increased risk of severe COVID-19 illness due to preexisting conditions have also been granted eligibility for the vaccine.
Wight said vaccine-eligible campus community members should monitor their university emails for the clinic sign-up link soon.
Moderna vaccines will be distributed at the clinic, with a follow-up site scheduled 28 days following the first clinic to administer the second dose of the vaccine, said Olivia Butler, the communicable disease program manager at the Wicomico County Health Department.
If a university member is not able to attend the second vaccination site, that individual will need to schedule an appointment at another vaccination site, Butler said.
Out-of-state campus community members within the Phase 2B eligibility qualifications will be permitted to receive the vaccine at the clinic.
Butler said the Wicomico County Health Department does remains open to the possibility for future vaccination clinics on SU’s campus, though none are currently scheduled.
Wight also reiterated that vaccinated students, faculty and staff will still need to remain in compliance with SU’s weekly COVID-19 testing protocols
Wight continued to urge all students, faculty and staff to prioritize receiving their vaccines once eligible.
“I strongly encourage every member of the SU community to schedule their vaccination appointments when eligible,” Wight said.
The state’s two current mass vaccination sites are located at the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center and the former Tuesday Morning store in the Centre at Salisbury, hosted by the Wicomico County Health Department.
SU has identified 17 positive cases of COVID-19 out of 5,012 tests over the past week, according to the university’s COVID-19 dashboard. The campus still maintains a positivity rate below 1%.
For more information on SU’s testing protocols or to view the latest university COVID-19 test results, visit https://www.salisbury.edu/coronavirus/testing-info.aspx.
By JAKOB TODD
News editor
Featured image courtesy of Voice of America.