The below message was sent on March 31, 2021
Dear Staff and Faculty,
As President Cassidy communicated previously, we have been making efforts on many fronts to see if we can arrange COVID vaccinations for College employees (preferably on campus). Our latest efforts are centered around partnering with an area pharmacy. Although we still have no assurances that this will come to fruition, it would be helpful in our discussions with the pharmacies to know how many eligible employees are interested in getting vaccinated through the College. Again, we cannot guarantee that we will actually get access to vaccines, so please continue to pursue vaccination through other avenues as they become available to you.
If we are able to arrange to have vaccines distributed through the College, we would be required to provide the vaccine according to Pennsylvania’s prioritization guidance with additional advice from the Montgomery Department of Health. A summary of the County and State’s guidance is provided below in defining each prioritization category:
- 1A: People over 65; health care personnel; people who are caregivers to someone 65 or over; people aged 16-64 with high-risk conditions causing increased risk for severe disease; people in an immunocompromised state; individuals who are obese, pregnant, have sickle cell disease, smoke or have Type 2 diabetes, cancer or heart disease. [See the PA-DOH website for the full list.]
- 1B: Education workers, defined by the County as people who are in positions that are student facing or involve interactions with students. This would include most positions/departments on our campus.
- Phase 2: Departments or individuals that do not interact directly with students.
It is also important to understand the following about this potential vaccine opportunity:
- We can only make the vaccine available to College employees, though we are working to secure vaccination opportunities for students at a later date.
- We cannot complete a vaccination where the first dose was administered at another site. This opportunity is for individuals receiving the vaccine for the first time.
- We do not have control over which vaccine we will administer. It is likely that you will need to get two doses to be completely vaccinated.
We need to provide potential partner pharmacies with some indication of the number of individuals who are interested in being vaccinated through the College. If you are interested in receiving a vaccine through the College, please indicate so by completing this electronic form by Friday, April 2:
link to Vaccination Indication of Interest Form or https://brynmawr.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a32ylNup2temz3M
Should the College engage in a partnership to distribute vaccines, we will notify all faculty and staff via email. It is at that point that you will be able to make a firm commitment to being vaccinated through us.
Again, we cannot promise that we will be able to arrange for vaccines for our employees, so please continue to pursue other options. We do need to get a reasonably accurate indication of interest in order to put ourselves in the best possible position to make such arrangements. We will let you know as soon as possible if Bryn Mawr has engaged in a partnership to distribute the vaccine and will then provide you with a separate form to confirm your interest and make your appointment.
Please reach out to me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Kari Fazio
Chief Financial Officer/Chief Administrative Officer