January 8, 2021
It is with great excitement that UCF will next week begin to administer an initial 1,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to healthcare workers and to faculty, staff and students age 65 or older.
Student Health Services will administer the initial limited supply of the Pfizer vaccine, which in accordance with the State of Florida guidelines is only available to healthcare workers and to those age 65 and over at this time.
Starting next week, the no-cost vaccine will be given in person with a scheduled appointment at Student Health Services, located at 4098 Libra Drive at the main campus. UCF will send an email soon to those healthcare workers, faculty, staff and students who are eligible to receive the vaccine based on the State of Florida’s current criteria. That message will contain information about how to sign up for an appointment. Anyone who does not fit the State of Florida’s executive order guidelines for vaccine eligibility will not be able to receive the vaccination at this time.
This is a two-dose vaccine, and upon completion of the first dose, we will provide instructions for scheduling for your second dose in the recommended three weeks.
Note that some community providers are offering the vaccine to residents who qualify, and members of the UCF community may elect to receive their vaccinations through one of those offerings. If you have already scheduled an appointment with another provider, please keep that appointment so we may reach as many people as we can.
This is the first dose of hope for our UCF community. In time, we expect to receive additional doses of the vaccine and also expect that the State of Florida’s eligibility requirements will be expanded. When that time comes, our vaccine distribution process will scale up accordingly so that we are able to provide as many doses as available to all UCF faculty, staff and students.
We are sharing more information about vaccine distribution on UCF’s coronavirus website, and those with questions also can email covid19vaccine@ucf.edu.
While I am very encouraged about the vaccine starting to be distributed within our community, we must continue to practice other COVID-19 precautions, including after we are vaccinated as herd immunity develops. Prevention precautions such as wearing a face covering, practicing physical distancing and washing hands are as critical as ever.
Armor Up!
Dr. Michael Deichen, MD, MPH
Associate Vice President of UCF Student Health Services