Dear faculty, staff, and students,
As shared in recent emails, Lewis & Clark is requiring that all students, faculty, staff, and employees of our long-term, on-campus partners receive COVID booster doses as soon as they are eligible to do so. The only exceptions are community members who either: 1) have an approved COVID vaccination exemption, or 2) are exclusively engaged in distance learning or working and will never be on campus.
Please visit this CDC webpage to see if and when you are eligible for a booster shot. If you are moderately to severely immunocompromised, and you have already received a third dose of vaccine, see this webpage to determine when you might be eligible for a booster.
Finding Booster Doses Off-Campus
As articulated in our Booster Dose FAQ, there are many options to find a booster dose off-campus. We ask that community members do their best to pursue one of these off-campus options so that we can focus our on-campus clinics later this month on individuals who have been unable to access a dose off-campus. To find a booster dose off-campus:
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Search vaccines.gov for a provider
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Text your ZIP code to 438829
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Call 1-800-232-0233 to find vaccine locations near you
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In Oregon, there are a few larger clinics where you do not need an appointment. Other states have similar programs; check with your state health department.
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Search the websites of major pharmacy chains (e.g., CVS, Safeway, Walgreens, Riteaid, etc.)
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Check with your primary care provider
The rest of this email provides information about our on-campus booster dose clinics in January for those of you who are eligible for your booster dose but have not yet been able to receive it. If you will not be needing a COVID-19 booster dose on-campus in January, you can stop reading now.
Target Dates for On-Campus Booster Clinics
The target dates for our on-campus booster clinics for community members who have been unable to access doses elsewhere are January 11, 13, 14, 18, 19 and 20. These clinics are optional and free, regardless of insurance. If an eligible community member does not have health insurance, they can still get a booster dose in one of our clinics.
We currently expect to have both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine available in the clinics, but it’s unclear how much of each vaccine we will have. Pfizer doses will be prioritized for those individuals who MUST receive Pfizer doses. Per the CDC, it’s OK to get vaccinated with a vaccine type (e.g., Moderna, Pfizer, J & J) that is different than your original vaccine type.
Complete survey by January 5
If you are eligible for your booster dose by our January clinic dates, and want to participate in an on-campus booster dose clinic in January, it is very important that you complete this 3-minute survey by the end of the day this Wednesday, January 5. Your completion of this survey will allow us to plan for adequate staffing.
We will be announcing the actual sign-up for booster dose clinics in the next week, so continue to monitor your email for that message.
Questions? Check out our Booster dose FAQ. You can also check out the Oregon Health Authority’s fast facts PDF or boosters and third doses webpage for more information. If your question is not answered in those places, please email us at covid19info@lclark.edu.
Best wishes for the new year!
John Hancock, EdD
Associate Dean of Students for Health and Wellness
