To: All Students
From: Ka Yee C. Lee, Provost, and Katie Callow-Wright, Executive Vice President of the University and Chief of Staff in the Office of the President
Subject: Steps to Confirm COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Status
Date: December 30, 2021
As announced on
December 20, 2021, the University is requiring every student to receive a COVID-19 booster shot once they are eligible, unless they have an approved exemption. We strongly encourage all students who are eligible for a booster to receive one before returning for the Winter Quarter if you have not already done so. We write today to outline the process to submit proof of receiving a booster shot or apply for an approved exemption.
To meet the booster shot requirement, students who are currently eligible for a booster must, by January 24, 2022, take one of the following steps:
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Upload proof of receiving a booster shot by logging into the my.WellnessPortal and following these steps. If you received your booster at UChicago Medicine or UChicago Student Wellness, you still need to upload your vaccine card/record using this system.
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Apply for a medical or religious exemption by completing and submitting the corresponding form; forms can be found through the UChicago Student Wellness immunizations webpage and must be submitted through the my.WellnessPortal. If you previously received a medical or religious exemption, you do not need to submit another form. Students who recently tested positive for COVID-19 can receive a 90-day exemption from the booster requirement by emailing a copy of their test results to studentwellness-notification@uchicago.edu.
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Apply or reapply for a remote-only exemption by completing and submitting this form. Students must re-apply for remote-only exemptions on a quarterly basis. Remote-only means that you will not have access to University facilities in the Chicago area.
Students who are not yet eligible to receive a booster:
Individuals are eligible to receive a booster shot six months after completing the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine series, or two months after receiving Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine. Students are required to receive a booster shot or seek an exemption
within 30 days of becoming eligible. If your vaccination included a vaccine approved by the World Health Organization but not the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, you should be eligible to receive a booster shot after six months as described on the
booster information page of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Once you become eligible and receive a booster shot, upload the record information using the steps above.
Students who are not fully vaccinated (including a booster) due to an approved exemption are subject to mandatory weekly testing requirements if they access University facilities in the Chicago area for any reason and at any frequency. Students who do not take one of the steps to become compliant with this requirement are prohibited from accessing campus facilities or registering for courses, and may be subject to other disciplinary consequences.
COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots are readily available in the U.S. from pharmacies and other local providers, and it is often easiest to schedule a booster appointment there. You can find a nearby vaccine site by visiting
vaccines.gov.
More than 96% of students are fully vaccinated, and booster shots will help us continue protecting the health and safety of our campus and neighboring communities. Thank you for your commitment to limit the spread of COVID-19.