Feb. 26, 2021
Dear Â鶹ÒùÔº, Faculty and Staff,
Gov. Jared Polis today announced new phases of eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine in Colorado.Ìý
The state added student-facing higher education faculty and staff to a newly defined phase 1B.4, estimated to begin in late March. Phase 1B.4 also now includes people age 50 and older, frontline essential workers in a variety of categories and people ages 16–49 with at least one high-risk condition. See the for additional updates to the state phases, including changes to Phase 1B.3.
We are grateful to Gov. Polis and his staff for hearing the concerns expressed by higher education leaders, faculty and staff over the past several weeks.
According to the state, the intent of the new higher education classification is to prioritize educators who work in close contact with many people, especially indoors, including all student-facing staff. Student-facing employees include instructors, professors, vocational educators and staff providing safety and other support services. We will provide more information soon on how this applies to CU Boulder.
We anticipate the state’s change in vaccine distribution prioritization will support our ability to offer the COVID-19 vaccine to faculty, staff and students as vaccine supply increases and the university receives a greater number of doses. Eligible faculty, staff and students also have the option of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine at other locations, such as pharmacies and state- and county-sponsored vaccine clinics.Ìý
Please join our experts at noon Tuesday, March 2, for a special Campus Q&A on vaccine safety with Matt McQueen, director of epidemiology for the campus Pandemic Response Office Scientific Steering Committee; Gloria Brisson, senior director of CU Boulder Medical Services; and other guests.
We will provide additional information next week on updates to our process for distributing the COVID-19 vaccine to faculty, staff and students. We’ll continue to update the campus COVID-19 vaccination webpage and send out more detailed updates as we confirm how the option to receive the COVID-19 vaccine through CU Boulder will work.
We hope you are as pleased as we are about this positive step toward returning our campus to expanded in-person operations.
Thank you,
Russell Moore
Provost
Patrick O’Rourke
Chief Operating Officer
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