COVID-19 vaccination update for UCLA faculty and staff
Office of the Administrative Vice Chancellor
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences
To: Faculty and Staff
Dear Colleagues:
UCLA is pleased to begin offering COVID-19 vaccinations to employees 75 years of age and older. Individuals in this and subsequent groups will be prioritized using a social vulnerability methodology developed by UCLA Professor Vickie Mays. Those 65 and over will be the next group. All employees 65 and over will be invited to receive vaccines regardless of whether they work on campus or remotely.
Once these populations have received the vaccine, we will follow a phased rollout plan for on-site employees that complies with recommendations from state and local public health officials. The campus vaccination prioritization was detailed during the Jan. 14 COVID-19 Response and Recovery Task Force virtual town hall for faculty and staff.
When an employee becomes eligible for the vaccine, they will receive an email from the UCLA Health System. As required by the University of California (PDF), all employees must complete an online education module about the vaccine. This can be completed before or after receiving the vaccine.
Please note that these plans and their exact timing are contingent upon several factors. Per Los Angeles County guidelines, before we can begin distributing vaccines more broadly within our own community, we must provide vaccines to our own health care workers, support the vaccination of other health care workers throughout Los Angeles County, and offer vaccines to UCLA Health patients aged 65 and over.
We are hosting another town hall on Wednesday, Jan. 27 to provide additional information about vaccinations and respond to questions. We encourage you to attend.
While we will be working to offer everyone at UCLA vaccines as quickly as possible, please recognize this may take more time than we had hoped, given restrictions and the limited availability of the vaccine at this time. We encourage those who have the opportunity to receive the vaccine sooner through a local health agency or their health care provider to take that opportunity to get vaccinated. For those in Los Angeles County, additional information is available on the public health department website.
Staying informed during this process is imperative as we work to provide immunizations to our Bruin community and move toward our large-scale plans to return to campus for in-person instruction this fall. With this in mind, UCLA Health has created an online COVID-19 vaccine hub to provide the campus community and the public with vital information, including which groups are actively being vaccinated and how to schedule your appointment once you’ve been invited to do so. You are also encouraged to stay up to date on UCLA’s pandemic recovery and response planning by visiting UCLA’s COVID-19 website.
We are getting through this difficult time together and we appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we work to make the vaccine available to the UCLA community.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Beck
Administrative Vice Chancellor
John Mazziotta, M.D., Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor, UCLA Health Sciences and CEO, UCLA Health
