To: Wellesley College Faculty and Staff
From: President Paula A. Johnson
Re: Update on Plans for Vaccination Rollout
Date: February 9, 2021
I want to update you regarding Wellesley’s plans for a COVID-19 vaccination rollout. The possibility of returning to some semblance of our pre-COVID-19 lives looms large as the vaccine rollout ramps up. Our first priority as a nation must be to vaccinate our most vulnerable citizens. It is more than unfortunate to see that some people, including some in higher education, are prioritizing individual and/or institutional benefit, as opposed to the common good of the country.
Given that we lack a federal public health system and have a decentralized state health system, comprising many municipalities, the vaccine rollout has been inconsistent across Massachusetts. At the same time, higher education institutions are not following a standard approach in vaccinating their communities. The large universities with medical, nursing, and allied health professions schools have received allotments of vaccine to administer according to the state’s rollout plan. A handful of smaller institutions have received vaccines, but to date, this selection process appears to have been somewhat random.
To address this challenge, I am working with a small group of college and university presidents on plans to facilitate delivery of vaccines to the higher education community, which we will propose to the Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services this week. In addition, Wellesley applied to be and was recently approved as a vaccination site, and we are now working with Newton-Wellesley Collegiate Health, our higher education colleagues, and the Massachusetts Department of Health and Human Services to develop a plan that will allow the College to offer vaccines to all members of our faculty and staff, in addition to our students, while respecting the state’s phased plan. We will not be able to offer vaccines to dependents of faculty and staff, or to members or the broader public.
As you may know, the state’s vaccination plan is being rolled out in three phases. As part of phase 1, our medical and allied “COVID-facing” medical staff and campus police were vaccinated through Newton-Wellesley Hospital at another campus, or by the Town of Wellesley. The commonwealth has now entered phase 2 (early phase) of the vaccination plan, which currently focuses on adults over 75 and will expand to those over 65, with those with comorbid illnesses receiving vaccines first, as well as those in industries and roles where risk of transmission is higher. As part of phase 3, currently scheduled to begin in April, Wellesley expects to be able to vaccinate our students and, we hope, members of our faculty and staff as well.
Developing an effective plan requires understanding the needs of our community and where individuals fit within the state’s phased plan for COVID-19 vaccine distribution, which we will be required to follow closely. We will also need to work with other colleges and universities to ensure the plan we develop is effective and efficient. We anticipate that developing the plan and establishing the vaccination infrastructure will take an additional four to five weeks, and we do not know what the wait times for allotments of vaccines will be. Therefore, we recommend that you stay in communication with your primary care provider (PCP) about vaccine availability. Your PCP will know if you are in a high-risk group as set forth in CDC and state guidelines for phases 1 and 2. If you can receive a vaccine through your health care provider or the state vaccination sites, we encourage you to do so. If you believe your position at Wellesley puts you at higher risk and your health care provider or public health department requests documentation verifying your employment and your role, the College will provide this documentation.
The Massachusetts Higher Education Working Group, on which I serve, advocated strongly for higher education faculty who are teaching in person to be eligible for vaccination in phase 2 of the state’s process. While our efforts were unsuccessful, I remain focused on finding ways to provide vaccination to our community here on campus. Wellesley hopes to be able to facilitate access to the vaccine for our students, staff and faculty, but cannot accelerate the vaccination schedule established by the state.
We will continue to communicate in the next week or two about the status of the plan as the operational and administrative details are finalized.
