TO: All Employees
FR: Joyce Lopes, Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Administration and Finance, and Missy Brunetta, Director for Emergency Services and Associate Risk Manager
Campus Community,
Sonoma County Public Health officials continue to prioritize vaccinations in line with state guidelines. There is much work to be done towards combating the COVID-19 pandemic in our community, and vaccination efforts continue to increase as supply increases nationwide. More information about the Sonoma County vaccination rollout is available online. Outlined below are important next steps for our campus community, based on information currently available.
SSU Employee Vaccinations
SSU continues to partner with the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) to get our campus employees, and other county educators vaccinated as quickly as possible. SCOE plans to return to their phased approach for education sector employees as soon as vaccine supplies are available. In Phase 1 of the SCOE vaccination plan, the following groups will be eligible to receive the vaccine simultaneously:
- Employees age 70 years or older
- Instructors and other employees who are teaching in-person courses for Spring 2021 or who are required to have regular in-person contact with students
- Childcare workers
After this initial group, the vaccine distribution plan will then continue through grade levels in four phases with the following groups: kindergarten through grade 5, grades 6-12, and lastly, higher education. SSU’s Office of Emergency Services is currently working with SCOE to identify when our non-instructional staff assigned to work on campus will be eligible to be vaccinated.
SCOE anticipates receiving vaccine allocations and opening the education sector vaccination site on Monday, February 8. Only those in Phase 1, as outlined above, are currently eligible to be vaccinated at this site at this time.
Employees who are eligible for the vaccine in any of the above categories will be notified by SSU’s Office of Emergency Services directly with instructions on how to schedule their appointment. Employees are advised to use the SCOE site unless their primary care provider determines that they are eligible for a vaccination in line with the state and local guidelines.
Employees should not contact SCOE directly until they have received notice from SSU’s Office of Emergency Services of eligibility to schedule a vaccination appointment. SCOE will verify all appointments against eligibility lists provided by SSU’s Office of Emergency Services to ensure appointments are reserved for those eligible to receive the vaccine.
Student Vaccinations
Students are receiving a separate vaccine distribution update from the REACH staff. However, we know many of you help answer students’ questions and provide direction. So, we have included information regarding student vaccinations in this message as well.
The Student Health Center (SHC) is distributing COVID-19 vaccines to students in Phases according to California's COVID-19 Vaccine Plan and as supply allows. The SHC is currently vaccinating only students eligible under Phase 1a, which includes healthcare workers and those age 75 and older. Phase 1b eligibility will be opening next week. The first groups in this phase will include childcare workers, those with current on-site placements in schools, agriculture workers, and those age 70 and older.
Students wishing to be vaccinated through the SHC should send a secure message through their My Health Portal indicating their interest in adding their name to the list. If the SHC does not have enough vaccine supply on hand, eligible students will be directed to community vaccination sites with referrals from the University.
In addition to students' ability to get vaccinated at the SHC, those students with teaching assignments on local campuses and Children’s School student employees will be added to the list of eligible persons that the University is providing to SCOE and will receive notification from the University accordingly. These students may choose whichever site they prefer.
What’s Next?
SSU’s Office of Emergency Services staff continues to coordinate with our local partners to provide access to the vaccine to our campus community as soon as possible. We will continue to keep our campus community informed as more information becomes available. Employees with questions about the vaccination plan or other information should contact the Office of Emergency Services. Information, FAQs, and resources about the COVID-19 vaccine may be found on the County of Sonoma website at SoCoEmergency.
Stay safe and well, Seawolves.