FAIRFIELD—In an effort to mobilize as many Americans as possible to get vaccinated, President Biden announced a National Month of Action with the goal of administering at least one vaccine shot to at least 70 % of adult Americans, and to reach 160 million Americans being fully vaccinated by July 4.
As part of this initiative, Fairfield University has joined the White House and the U.S Department of Education, along with colleges and universities across the nation in the effort to end the pandemic by taking on the COVID-19 College Vaccine Challenge. Participating colleges commit to taking three key actions to help get their campus communities vaccinated: engaging every student, faculty, and staff member; organizing their college communities; and delivering vaccine access for all.
As part of its on-going efforts, nearly 1,500 vaccines have been administered at Fairfield University and Griffin Health’s on-campus vaccine clinics this spring semester. The University is also offering incentives and helping to facilitate vaccinations off-campus for community members, which has resulted in 83% of Fairfield’s full-time faculty and 71% of its staff being fully vaccinated.
Through the COVID-19 College Vaccine Challenge, the Biden Administration is providing resources like training sessions, toolkits, and educational material to assist colleges and universities in vaccination efforts; facilitating on-site vaccinations at schools; and launching a student corps within the COVID-19 Community Corps to recognize and activate students across the country who are taking extraordinary efforts to draw young people out to get vaccinated and engage the youth community.
More than 250 colleges in 43 states have already taken the pledge and committed to the COVID-19 College Challenge.
The Challenge also comes on the heels of new federal efforts announced in early May that make it easier and more accessible for Americans across the country to get vaccinated by increasing walk-in vaccinations at local pharmacies; supporting smaller pop-up vaccination clinics and mobile units; providing support for community-based organizations to hire the staff needed to increase vaccine access; investing in education efforts about the vaccine in underserved communities, as well state and local vaccine outreach efforts; increasing vaccine availability and outreach efforts, as well as testing and mitigation, in rural communities; and launching a plan to reach newly eligible individuals age 12-15.
Fairfield University is a modern, Jesuit University, rooted in one of the world’s oldest intellectual and spiritual traditions. More than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 36 states, 47 foreign countries, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are enrolled in the University’s five schools. In the spirit of rigorous and sympathetic inquiry into all dimensions of human experience, Fairfield welcomes students from diverse backgrounds to share ideas and engage in open conversations. The University is located in the heart of a region where the future takes shape, on a stunning campus on the Connecticut coast just an hour from New York City.
