The Tompkins County Health Department (TCHD) will hold a COVID-19 vaccination clinic April 24 at the Shops at Ithaca Mall.
The clinic will run from 8:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will be offering the Moderna vaccine. The clinic is open for eligible members of the public over 18. Vaccination eligibility in New York includes people aged 16 years or older who reside, work or study in New York.
Registration with the TCHD Vaccine Registry is not required for this clinic, but people are required to make an appointment.
Ithaca College students who are fully vaccinated will no longer be required to participate in COVID-19 surveillance testing beginning April 23 with the exception of athletes. Vaccinated students must provide the Hammond Health Center with a photo of their vaccination cards to be exempt from surveillance testing. Vaccinated students are still required to follow other COVID-19 guidelines like wearing masks and social distancing.
The college will require all students to be vaccinated before returning for Fall 2021 but will accept medical and religious exemptions.
Frank Kruppa, Tompkins County public health director, said in a statement that after this weekend, 60% of the population in Tompkins County will have received one or two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“This is an incredible achievement and a testament to the dedication of our community to protect themselves and others,” Kruppa said.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine both require two doses. The Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine, which only requires one dose, was previously available, but the distribution was paused after six reports of extremely rare blood clots connected to the vaccine.
The TCHD had planned to hold a vaccination day for college students in the county April 15 using the J&J vaccine. The TCHD canceled the clinic when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called for the distribution of the vaccine to be paused.
