UCF will offer COVID-19 vaccines to all employees

The University of Central Florida will administer COVID-19 vaccines to employees of all ages on campus starting Thursday, according to an email the school sent to employees.

The school received enough of the Pfizer vaccine from the Florida Department of Health in Orange County for about 2,340 workers to receive both required doses, according to the email from Dr. Michael Deichen, the associate vice president of UCF Student Health Services. The vaccine will be administered in the Pegasus Ballroom inside UCF’s student union building by appointment only and at no cost, he said.

Orange County has broken with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ current executive order laying out eligibility rules for the vaccine, which make no mention of college staff. Mayor Jerry Demings said during a press briefing Monday college and university employees could receive the vaccine at the Orange County Convention Center, a county-run site.

Valencia and UCF leaders also have told employees they can go to a Federal Emergency Management Agency-run site on Valencia College’s west campus, and several instructors posted on social media over the weekend they were able to receive the vaccine there. However, the federal agency has not announced publicly it is immunizing college and university workers.

UCF, which has more than 12,000 employees, does not have enough doses of the vaccine for all workers. Deichen also encouraged employees to go to the convention center or the FEMA-run site at Valencia’s campus on Kirkman Road.

Many faculty members and the unions that represent them were frustrated last week when DeSantis’ executive order, which made K-12 school workers who are 50 and older eligible to receive the vaccine, excluded them. Then, a White House directive overruled DeSantis’ priorities and allowed all K-12 school employees, regardless of age, to get the vaccine at major retailers and federal vaccination sites.

UCF employees can register for appointments to receive the vaccine on campus through the university’s mobile app or online. But even as employees receive vaccines, Deichen wrote, they will still need to be careful to prevent the spread of the virus.

“We will need to continue COVID-19 precautions — wearing a face covering, practicing physical distancing and washing hands — even after we are vaccinated while our community develops the herd immunity critical to keeping one another safe from the pandemic,” Deichen wrote. “It is so important that we continue to take those steps to prevent spread and protect those who have not yet been vaccinated.”