Dartmouth Partners With New Hampshire for Vaccine Clinic

News subtitle

State to offer shots for eligible staff and students at former JCPenney in West Lebanon.

Image
Image
Tree branches with out-of-focus Baker tower
Photo by Eli Burakian ’00
Body

Dartmouth has finalized a partnership with the state of New Hampshire to help facilitate scheduling for some New Hampshire employees and students at a state-run vaccination site at the former JCPenney in West Lebanon.

In an email to the community Friday afternoon, COVID-19 Task Force co-chairs Lisa Adams, a physician and a professor of medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine, and Josh Keniston, vice president of campus services and institutional projects, announced the following details:

  • The state-administered vaccine appointments are available to all Dartmouth staff and students who are New Hampshire residents and fall into the state’s 2a or 2b vaccination categories (or any earlier categories). Phase 2a includes at-risk staff who work in New Hampshire K-12 schools, licensed childcare facilities, and licensed youth camps. Phase 2b includes people 50 to 64 years of age.
  • Students who fall into one or both of these two categories do not have to be enrolled in classes to participate, but they do need to be residing in New Hampshire, which includes campus residences.
  • Appointments are not available for Vermont residents.
  • The shots will be offered over the course of several weeks beginning this Tuesday, March 23.

“Unfortunately, this opportunity is not available for employee/student family members or partners,” Adams and Keniston wrote.

Staff and students who qualify because of their age will receive an email from Dartmouth’s Occupational Medicine office, inviting them to fill out a survey that will provide the state with the information it requires in order to schedule an available time.

Students who qualify for a vaccine because of a different reason should contact Dick’s House at dicks.house.health.service@dartmouth.edu and staff and faculty should contact Occupational Medicine at occupational.medicine@dartmouth.edu to be registered, Adams and Keniston wrote. They stressed that individuals should not include medical details in their email messages.

The co-chairs also announced that non-exempt employees who need to take time off to be vaccinated will be paid for up to two hours to receive the vaccine if their appointment occurs outside of their normal work schedule. These employees may leave work for up to two hours to get the vaccine if it is being administered during their normal work week. Additionally, Dartmouth will allow employees to take up to one day of Other Lost Time if Axiom Medical instructs them to stay home because of symptoms following their vaccination.

“There is also good news to share from the state of Vermont, which announced this morning that all Vermonters age 16 and older will be eligible for vaccines on April 19, and older Vermonters will be eligible even sooner,” Adams and Keniston wrote. More information is available on the Vermont Department of Health site.

Because of positive vaccination trends and declining transmission rates in the Dartmouth community, the COVID-19 Task Force is evaluating policies relative to those who are vaccinated, and the co-chairs say they anticipate having more to announce in early April.

“We hope that staff and students who qualify will take advantage of this opportunity to help protect their health and the health of our community. Studies show that vaccines are effective at keeping you from getting COVID-19. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, getting a vaccine will also help keep you from getting seriously ill if you do contract the virus,” Adams and Keniston wrote.

“As more of us are vaccinated, we all come closer to returning to normal operations. In the meantime, we will continue to pursue ways to help make vaccinations available to people here on campus.”

For the latest information on Dartmouth’s response to the pandemic visit the Dartmouth Together: COVID-19 Information website.

William Platt can be reached at william.c.platt@dartmouth.edu.

Office of Communications