University provides update on campus distribution of COVID-19 vaccine

FEBRUARY 9, 2021 — Editor’s note: The following message was sent today via email from Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President for Business Affairs Veronica Salazar Mendez to all faculty and staff:

As the state of Texas continues to roll out distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, we know many of you are eager for the opportunity to receive your vaccination. We are just as eager for you to have this opportunity, since wider availability of COVID-19 vaccines will bring us one step closer to welcoming more of our Roadrunners back to campus.

UTSA is fortunate to have received limited allocations of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in recent weeks. President Eighmy worked closely with the UT System to request vaccines for our university, and we will continue to advocate for additional doses as they become available. As a closed vaccine distribution site, UTSA has a goal to vaccinate as many members of our community as possible.

Thus far, the availability of allocations has been affected by the quantity of vaccines provided to Texas by the federal government. Any doses we receive must be distributed according to Phase 1A and Phase 1B eligibility requirements from the Texas Department of State Health Services and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Based on these guidelines, the university developed a prioritized list of critical frontline and on-campus faculty and staff to help ensure a maximum positive impact on the health and safety of the Roadrunner community, including our most vulnerable populations.

Availability of allocations has been affected by the quantity of vaccines provided to Texas.

On January 5 we received our first allocation of 100 vaccine doses. Following the priority list and the state’s vaccine eligibility guidelines, we were able to swiftly administer vaccines to some of our most essential frontline employees, such as health care workers and first responders.

On February 1 we received an allocation of 400 doses of the Moderna vaccine. Additional faculty and staff from the prioritized list were invited to schedule a vaccine appointment if they were eligible for Phase 1A/1B. As we anticipated, appointments filled up quickly. Those who received an invitation but were not able to schedule an appointment will have another opportunity to register if and when we receive additional allocations.

I am pleased to share that our vaccine clinics were a great success. With the allocations received so far, we have administered vaccine doses to 500 of our faculty and staff. We hope this number will increase in the coming weeks, and we will continue to work with UT System to request more doses, dependent upon availability. We also encourage you to explore the growing number of local community opportunities to receive a vaccine, such as vaccine hubs, local health departments, private health care providers and pharmacies.

Again, our goal is to vaccinate as many members of the Roadrunner community as possible. To help us understand how many faculty and staff are interested in being vaccinated, you can expect to receive a COVID vaccine survey in the near future. The results of this survey will provide valuable insight about your interest in the vaccine as well as how many of our faculty and staff qualify under Phase 1B or have already been vaccinated.

Finally, remember that getting vaccinated not only protects your health but helps protect the most vulnerable individuals in our community. While we must continue to navigate the challenges of this pandemic, vaccines provide something we didn’t have six months ago: a tangible sense of hope. We are in this together, and we will get through it together.