Vaccines for COVID-19

You’re encouraged to contact your health care provider and/or visit the California Department of Public Health My Turn website to check your eligibility, receive a notification when vaccines and appointments are available in your area, or book an appointment.

According to COVID state guidelines, persons at risk of occupational exposure to COVID-19 through their work in any role in education settings are eligible to be vaccinated, further referenced by those guidelines as all staff of universities. This may include faculty and staff and also may include postdocs, graduate student instructors, graduate student researchers, readers, tutors, student assistants, and any other form of campus employee. Please note that eligibility requirements are set by the vaccination provider and UC Berkeley is not able to guarantee eligibility.

You’re advised to bring a pay stub and your UC Berkeley photo ID to your vaccination appointment. Please note that verification requirements are set by the vaccination provider and you may be asked to provide additional documentation.

We understand that graduate and professional students have a complicated relationship to the categories of “staff,” and “faculty,” as well as now navigating new categories of “remote” and “in-person.” Whether you are working remotely, in-person, a Graduate Student Instructor, a Graduate Student Researcher, Reader, Tutor, Student Assistant, or any other form of campus employee, vaccine providers may consider you to be eligible as an employee under the CDPH guidelines to receive a vaccine. Each vaccinator is permitted to make its own eligibility determination based on its supply of vaccine and its interpretation of CDPH criteria, and we are providing the best guidance we can based on what we know at this moment. 

Therefore, if you are a graduate student employed by the campus, we encourage you to contact your health care provider and/or visit the CDPH My Turn website to check your eligibility, receive a notification when vaccines and appointments are available in your area, or to book an appointment. Please be sure to review instructions from providers carefully; their criteria may be more restrictive than the state’s, and may change daily depending on vaccine allocation and changing state guidelines.

We are still unsure about our vaccine allotment going forward, but the campus does hope it will receive doses to vaccinate Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) members sometime in the Spring. UHS is required to initially prioritize vaccinations for students living with disabilities or specific significant underlying health conditions, according to state guidelines.  If you are not insured through SHIP, we recommend reaching out to your healthcare provider directly. If you are temporarily uninsured, please contact SHIP.  In the meantime, we recommend that if you can get vaccinated through an external vaccination site, please do so.

The campus COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force, convened in December, is dedicated to ensuring that UCB is well-positioned to meet and exceed vaccination targets for the UCB community.  We meet weekly to review and adapt evolving guidance from public health and UC partners, address supply chain and organization challenges, and operationalize vaccine clinics.  Initial clinics were held at the Tang Center and starting on February 3 the vaccine clinic will move to the ASUC Student Union, MLK Building Pauley Ballroom: this will allow us to expand our clinic as the vaccine supply improves.  The vaccine clinic is by invitation only for those that we are able to vaccinate based on the Phases.

At this time, COVID-19 vaccines are strongly encouraged, to ensure protection for our staff and those we serve, but they are not required.  This may change in the future.

UHS received its first allocation of vaccine from UCOP/CDPH on January 12th and the campus’ vaccine supply will be determined on a weekly basis as we get more from the state, county or city. We provide a weekly update on our vaccine webpage about vaccine appointments that are upcoming.

UCB has been preparing and advocating strongly in order to take a leadership role in vaccine provision for anyone within the UCB community as they become eligible, according to the state distribution plan. However, the full scope of UCB (and the UC system) role in vaccination continues to evolve, and our role determines the total number of doses distributed to us. The timeline also depends heavily on vaccine supply. UHS is informed of how much vaccine will be arriving less than one week in advance.We do expect that vaccines will be more widely available by the summer. 

Currently as we get vaccine we are directed by the state of California and CDPH to vaccinate students as their health care provider, vs staff as their employers. In March we shifted and are now offering students vaccines as we get vaccine allotment. 

We expect that by the spring/summer, vaccines will be widely available through most healthcare providers.

We have been getting both Moderna and Pfizer vaccine.

Initial clinics were held at the Tang Center and then on February 3 the vaccine clinic moved to the ASUC Student Union, MLK Building Pauley Ballroom: this allowed us to expand our clinic as the vaccine supply improves. As we get more vaccines we will continue to open up to more students via invitations. 

Yes, it appears that the COVID vaccines should be fully covered by health insurance plans.  In this case, UHS will bill SHIP directly for vaccinations obtained at Tang.  The early phase of vaccine distribution is funded by the federal government.

Cost of the initial phase of vaccination (essential workers at higher risk for COVID-19) will be covered by a combination of the federal government, occupational health, and insurance funding.  Our understanding from federal regulations is that health care plans are required to pay fully for COVID vaccinations, and there is no out-of-pocket expense to individuals.  In some cases UHS will be able to obtain payment directly from health plans, such as SHIP; in other cases, individuals will be able to submit to their health plans for reimbursement of the expense.  If a student experiences a problem getting reimbursed from a health plan, the SHIP office is available to help.

Campus individuals will be contacted and offered vaccinations in alignment with CDC and county guidance on priority vaccination groups.  If/when you are identified as a priority group, you will receive email instructions on how to make an appointment for vaccination with UHS.  We will also update this website as the distribution progresses.

Effective April 1, 2021 campus surveillance testing requirements have changed for fully vaccinated faculty, staff, and students. You’re considered fully vaccinated 14 days after your final vaccine dose.

• Vaccinated students living in on-campus housing or participating in athletics will still be required to get tested, but the frequency will change from twice weekly to once a week.

• For everyone else, weekly testing will not be required for 90 days from the date you are fully vaccinated (14 days after final dose).