Student vaccination
Nazareth’s on-campus vaccination effort remains on pause, as recommended Tuesday by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They are investigating reports of blood clots in six women that occurred 6 to 13 days after receiving the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, among more than 6.8 million people who have received J&J vaccine.
Each person who received the J&J vaccine at Nazareth received an email from Nazareth’s Health and Counseling director to help explain the news.
Timing: The two-dose vaccine regimens typically require returning to the same place for your second dose. So if you will be leaving the Rochester area at the end of the semester, pay attention to the timeline for your second dose:
- Pfizer’s second dose needs to be 3 weeks after the first dose. You’d need a first dose by Wednesday, April 21, to have your second dose by May 12, which is the day before the Naz residence halls close. Appointments are available this week at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center downtown, 123 East Main Street, Rochester, 14604 (8 miles from campus) and (through the state website) at the Dome Arena, 2695 East Henrietta Road, Henrietta, NY, 14467 (7 miles from campus).
- Moderna’s second dose needs to be 4 weeks after the first dose. You’d need a first dose by tomorrow (April 16) morning to have your second dose May 14 — the day of graduate Commencement and the day before undergraduate Commencement.
Pfizer is the only vaccine approved for ages 16 and 17. The other vaccines are approved for ages 18 and up. The appointment websites typically indicate which brand of vaccine will be administered.
You are considered fully vaccinated two weeks past your final dose.
COVID-19 trends
The concern: Our county is experiencing a surge of cases among younger people, including ages 10-19 and people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, which is believed to be spurred by variants of the virus that are more contagious, Monroe County Health Director Michael Mendoza said last week. The rolling average of new cases per day in our county — 258 cases — is more than double what it was a month ago.
The good news: Vaccination is proving to make a significant difference, Mendoza said. High vaccination rates among adults older than 60 have dramatically reduced the number of new cases in that age group. Appointments locally are widely available at the links above.
International protocol change
As of April 10, New York state no longer requires international travelers to test or quarantine, as long as they have no COVID-19 symptoms. For more, see state Travel Advisory.
COVID alert level
- Our campus alert level continues to be 2, which indicates modified operations due to case levels in the area around campus.
- Details: Campus COVID-19 Alert Levels.
