Vaccine booster update for faculty and staff
COVID-19 Response and Recovery Task Force
To: Faculty and Staff
Dear Colleagues:
As part of our efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on campus and in the broader community, UCLA requires students, faculty and staff to provide proof that they are fully vaccinated and have received a COVID-19 booster shot, if eligible, as part of UC’s vaccination policy (PDF). This update was communicated to the campus community in a BruinPost on Dec. 21. Please note that the deadline for booster-eligible faculty and staff to verify their booster status has been extended to Monday, Feb. 7. Those who are not yet eligible for the booster by the Feb. 7 deadline will need to provide proof of receiving their booster within 30 days of becoming eligible.
Beginning Friday, Jan. 28, UCLA’s COVID-19 Symptom Monitoring and Vaccination Verification System will notify faculty and staff while they are completing the survey if the university does not already have proof of their booster information through the consent previously provided for the primary COVID-19 vaccine process.
Please note: Those who work in clinical settings (including medical, dental and nursing clinics) are also required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and to have received a booster when eligible, however, they must follow the timing and processes outlined in the COVID-19 protocols for healthcare settings.
For those who have previously provided consent through UCLA’s COVID-19 Symptom Monitoring and Vaccination Verification System for UCLA to access their COVID-19 vaccination information from the state vaccination database (CAIR) or UCLA Health, their updated vaccine status will automatically update if a record of the booster is located and no further action will be required. However, if no record of a booster is found, the individual will be notified while completing the survey and they will need to upload their vaccine booster proof following the instructions provided in the survey tool.
Those who have not consented to UCLA accessing their COVID-19 vaccination information from CAIR or UCLA Health will be encouraged to consent to that lookup or required to upload their proof of having received the booster following the instructions provided in the survey system.
Individuals who received the primary COVID-19 vaccine series but now wish to apply for a medical, disability or religious exception to the booster due to changed circumstances — or those who were denied an exception for the primary COVID-19 vaccine series but wish to apply for an exception to the booster based on changed circumstances — will have the option to apply for an exception through UCLA’s COVID-19 Symptom Monitoring and Vaccination Verification System.
A separate communication from the Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center on Jan. 18 regarding the process and deadline for students was sent to booster-eligible students whose information was not available through CAIR, advising them to provide proof through the Ashe Immunization Portal. As with faculty and staff, students will have 30 days from when they become booster-eligible to provide proof of the booster.
We appreciate your continued cooperation and patience as we navigate the latest developments in this pandemic. Thank you for taking action to keep our community safer as we return to working, learning and living on campus.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Beck
Administrative Vice Chancellor
Co-chair, COVID-19 Response and Recovery Task Force
Megan McEvoy
Professor, Institute for Society and Genetics,
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics
Co-chair, COVID-19 Response and Recovery Task Force
