MACON, GA — Mercer University has announced its participation in College Vaccine Campus Challenge on June 10.
The university made the decision to help with the nationwide effort to get as many Americans as possible inoculated to end the COVID pandemic.
There are three actions that the institutions like Mercer University taking part in the College Vaccine Campus Challenge need to commit. Those actions are as follows:
1. Engaging every student, faculty, and staff member with information on vaccine eligibility and resources;
2. Organizing the campus community by identifying champions for vaccine efforts and implementing a plan to get as many members of the community vaccinated as possible;
3. Delivering vaccine access for all.
Regarding COVID-19 vaccines, Mercer Medicine, the medical school's multi-specialty physician group, got authorization to distribute them both on the Atlanta and Macon campuses. The group has begun doing it in late March.
Mercer University has no plans to require students and employees to get vaccinated against the virus. However, the university will continue to monitor developments with the federal vaccine approval process.
The university is also recommending all eligible students and employees be vaccinated.
Mercer recently ceased its mask requirement for fully vaccinated students, faculty, and staff, and they are not required to take COVID-19 surveillance testing. However, the requirement still applies in particular clinical settings and at the Student Health Centers.
Meanwhile, students, employees, and guests who are not vaccinated are expected to take personal responsibility, such as wearing masks while on campus.
Students who have been inoculated and enrolled in working adult programs returning to campus in the fall will be required to finish a COVID-19 screening questionnaire.
While uninoculated, students are supposed to show proof they got negative results from a COVID-19 test before moving into student housing or attending classes, orientations, and other on-campus activities.
For more information about Mercer's procedures, policies, and resources, please visit www.mercer.edu/coronavirus.