Ithaca College, Cornell University and Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3) will be hosting a COVID-19 vaccination day for students of all three colleges.
The Tompkins County Health Department (TCHD) and Cayuga Health System (CHS) are hosting the College Student Vaccination Day on April 15 at The Shops at Ithaca Mall vaccination site. Students will receive the Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine. Students who receive this vaccine will be immune starting two weeks after the day of vaccination. Students in New York state became eligible for the vaccine April 6.
Students interested in getting vaccinated must register through the TCHD COVID-19 Vaccine Registry. Even if students have registered previously, they must re-register and indicate that they are a student at one of the three colleges. Registration must be done by 6 p.m. April 12.
The TCHD will randomly select students from each college to schedule an appointment. Appointments are not guaranteed when students put their names on the registry. If a student is picked, they will receive an email April 13 with an appointment time and these appointment times cannot be changed.
On the day of vaccination, students must bring their student ID, government-issued ID, insurance card and proof of an appointment. Students do not need to pay for the vaccine.
Future vaccine events are not guaranteed, but students whose names are on the vaccine registry will continue to be notified when appointments become available through the county.
In a message to Ithaca College faculty and staff, Ellyn Sellers-Selin, physician and medical services director of the Center for Counseling, Health and Wellness, encouraged faculty to be lenient with students who may need to miss class due to a vaccine appointment. Students who will miss class should notify their professors of their absence.
As of April 11, 37.4% of the New York state population has had one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 24.4% has had both doses. Ithaca College currently has six active COVID-19 cases — four residential students, one off-campus student and one staff member. Tompkins County currently has 90 active cases with 9 new cases reported April 11.
Testing at Ithaca College is done through a saliva self-collection process. Samples can be dropped off by 11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday at the Athletics and Events Center, the Campus Center and Terrace 13. Symptomatic members of the campus community cannot access campus and should seek testing at The Shops at Ithaca Mall sampling site, the downtown sampling site or the Cayuga Medical Center testing site.
