ASU MOVES fast on vaccine; other schools lag.

Six hundred Arkansas State University workers received the covid-19 vaccine over 6½ hours during the “first shift” of an event Tuesday put together with help from 75 volunteers, a spokesman for the Jonesboro campus said.

ASU spokesman Bill Smith said another 150 workers were expected to be vaccinated during a nearly 3-hour “second shift” set for Tuesday night as part of the mass vaccination event held at First National Bank Arena.

The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville planned to provide covid-19 vaccine today for approximately 250 people and hundreds more Saturday. But so far the type of event held at ASU remains uncommon among other college campuses in the state as officials elsewhere described a lack of vaccine availability.

Even at ASU, the event Tuesday could not provide covid-19 vaccine to all of the more than 1,000 workers who signed up for the campus vaccination program. ASU also vaccinated 84 employees Sunday as part of a “trial run” for Tuesday, Smith said.

“We plan to work on another event later this week,” Smith said in an email. “We’ll finalize the details on that and reach out to our employees who were not able to receive a vaccine today.”

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock on Friday canceled an on-campus vaccination clinic for campus workers set for this week.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Jan. 12 announced that higher-education teachers and staff members would be eligible starting this week to receive the covid-19 vaccine, pushing up the date from next month. Hutchinson also announced that kindergarten-through-12th-grade teachers and staff members, as well as day care workers and individuals 70 and older, would begin to be eligible to receive the vaccine this week.

Students, as a group, are not yet eligible for the vaccine, which after an initial dose requires a second shot

to be administered weeks later.

In an email Friday to UALR workers, Chancellor Christina Drale and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs W. Cody Decker informed employees that while the state Health Department had expected an increase in vaccine shipments, “ADH now reports that the increase will not occur” as had been expected this week.

“Because of this new information, pharmacies are postponing the on-campus vaccination clinic until further notice,” Drale and Decker said in the email.

The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville — the state’s largest university — last week announced a mass vaccination event scheduled for Saturday.

Mark Rushing, a UA-Fayetteville spokesman, said Tuesday in an email that an event is also set for today “for a limited number of eligible employees plus a group of nursing students, who will be administering the vaccine” at later events.

“The goal is to vaccinate around 250 people Wednesday and potentially as many as 750 on Saturday,” Rushing said. “We’re reaching out to eligible employees in the 65-plus population first to see if they would like to be vaccinated.”

After hearing back from older workers, the university will “reach out to younger populations of eligible employees, even 50-plus groups if needed, until all available appointments are filled,” Rushing said.

Last week, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health, Danyelle McNeill, said in an email that without enough vaccine for all who want it, large campuses “will need to take a phased approach” and “will work to prioritize who should be vaccinated first.”

Smith at ASU said the university set up appointments to get vaccinated based on the order in which workers registered to receive it.

The Jonesboro campus worked with local pharmacies and had also been informed last week that the amount of vaccine might not be available as expected, with Chancellor Kelly Damphousse sending out emails on Thursday to put many workers on a “wait list.”

Smith said the state Health Department (ADH) made Tuesday’s event possible.

“The bulk of today’s event was thanks to the assistance of ADH who reached out to the chancellor late last week when it looked like a shipment may be delayed,” Smith said Tuesday.

Smith also praised the work of staff members and volunteers.

Lori Winn, ASU’s assistant vice chancellor for human resources, “moved heaven and earth to make this event happen for our employees,” Smith said.

Volunteers included faculty members and students from ASU’s College of Nursing and Health Professions, as well as administrators and members of the campus Emergency Operations Committee. Other volunteers were from “our entire A-State community,” Smith said.

INTEREST IN VACCINE

ASU and other large colleges in the state are encouraging workers to get vaccinated but have not made it mandatory. The vaccines were approved for emergency use last month by the Food and Drug Administration.

Several colleges in the state have surveyed workers or otherwise sought to estimate how many are interested in getting vaccinated.

Smith said ASU informed roughly 2,300 full- and parttime workers — including teaching assistants — about the campus vaccination program.

“We are just over 1,000 who have expressed interest, but that is an open-ended survey that we are continuing to allow employees to sign up. I expect we will have more join the list,” Smith said.

The University of Central Arkansas last week sent a voluntary survey to workers asking about their interest in getting vaccinated on campus, said Amanda Hoelzeman, a UCA spokeswoman.

“Of our roughly 1,300 employees, 763 said they are interested in receiving the vaccine through a UCA-organized event,” Hoelzeman said in an email.

UCA does not have a campus vaccination event scheduled but is “actively working with local health care providers, the city of Conway and other partners to plan and host a large-scale vaccination event for UCA employees and possibly other local higher-education, K-12, and essential services employees,” Hoelzeman said.

The university is also considering an “alternative scenario” involving workers getting vaccinated at the campus student health clinic.

UCA also is making plans about how to prioritize distribution of a limited supply of vaccine, Hoelzeman said.

Of the 763 workers stating that they’re interested in getting vaccinated on campus, Hoelzeman said “around 195 commented that they have health care concerns that could potentially put them at greater risk of complications associated with the virus.”

When UCA gets access to vaccines, “the plan is to offer them to that group first, then others, depending on availability,” Hoelzeman said.

This plan is still very much a work in progress, as we receive new information daily about vaccine availability. We are hopeful that the state of Arkansas will receive additional doses in the coming weeks so that supply can catch up with demand for this important vaccine.”

The Conway campus began spring semester classes this week — several other colleges started last week — but opted to have only virtual instruction until next week. Hoelzeman noted the rise in covid-19 statewide in the wake of the winter holidays and efforts to mitigate its spread.

“We are in constant communication with local hospitals and health care professionals,” Hoelzeman said. “Together, we discussed the possibility of holding off on in-person instruction for the first four days in order to help with local mitigation efforts. Starting our spring semester with four days of remote instruction will allow members of the campus community to finish quarantine and/or isolation periods, get tested for covid-19 if needed, and ensure that they are healthy before they reenter the classroom space.”