UB Vaccination Updates and Protocols

The vaccines were evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and their independent advisory board, which after very careful analysis and review deemed them safe and effective. Prior to the FDA’s review, the vaccines underwent the most rigorous level of clinical trial testing, which is the gold standard for evaluating the safety and efficacy of vaccines in people.

More information about UB's vaccinations and protocols can be found here.

See Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines for additional information.

Current scientific evidence suggests that the vaccines provide a significant degree of protection against all variants, including minimizing the risk of serious outcomes such as hospitalization.

If you only received one dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, it is critical to get the second dose to be optimally protected; in particular, a single dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines does not fully protect against the delta variant.

If you are not vaccinated but you have been infected with COVID-19 previously, you definitely need to be vaccinated, especially because natural immunity may not protect you against some of these variants. Most recently more than 99% of COVID-related deaths in this country have occurred in the unvaccinated.

This is a work in progress and only time will tell as we continue to assess the protection afforded by vaccination. However, vaccination induces an even better immune response than natural infection, which lasts at least eight to 10 months. Extrapolating from that, people who are vaccinated should be able to get at least a year and possibly more than a year of protection against COVID-19. 

Immunity conferred by infection is much more variable than that conferred by vaccination, particularly if your infection was asymptomatic or mild. Even if you have already recovered from COVID-19, it is possible that you could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 again.

It has also become clear that if you were previously infected and then get vaccinated you will have a tremendous immune response that is predicted to be highly protective and long-lasting.

Most adverse effects due to vaccination will occur within the first one to two months. There are no historical examples of vaccinations causing an adverse event outside of that timeframe. However, even if at some point down the line, an uncommon, long-term consequence from the COVID-19 vaccine is identified, the long-term consequences of COVID-19 will still be exponentially greater than any from vaccination.

The vaccines were tested in 40,000 people and now more than 400 million doses have been given. Emergency use authorization (EUA) of the vaccines does not equate to being experimental. EUA status was obtained after two months of safety data; full licensure requires six months of safety data.

After 400 million doses have been administered, the safety profile of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines look very good. It’s important to note that both Pfizer and Moderna are now applying for full licensure and it is fully expected that both of these will receive it.

There is absolutely no evidence that the vaccines cause infertility or get into your DNA. These fears are propagated on social media, which is not a reliable source of information on vaccines or COVID-19. Instead, rely on trusted sources: Erie County, New York State, the CDC, or alternatively, an individual you trust. It could be a primary care physician or a pastor but it’s critical that the trusted individual be someone who gives you reliable information.

If you are immunocompromised, it’s best to talk to your health care provider because not all immune-compromising conditions are equal. Immunocompromised individuals should definitely get vaccinated, but they also should take precautions in high-risk settings, such as indoors, where there may be people who are unvaccinated.

UB strongly supports New York State’s vaccination program and the need for members of the university and Western New York community to get vaccinated in order to protect our region against COVID-19.

See the CDC's Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines for additional information.

The concept of herd immunity just means that cases will be at a very manageable, low number. This very low number of cases will fluctuate depending on the season. Now is the time to get vaccinated while cases are at low levels in Western New York.

Remember, it takes five to six weeks to achieve full protection after your first shot. For the unvaccinated, your risk of getting infected will undoubtedly increase as we move into the fall.

Yes, UB is hosting a designated New York State vaccination site for the Western New York community in Harriman Hall on the university’s South Campus.

Information regarding parking and a map of UB's South Campus is available on the UB Parking and Transportation website.

Additional information about the site is available by visiting the New York State Health Department’s COVID-19 vaccine website, or calling the state hotline at 1-833-697-4829 (1-833-NYS-4-VAX).

The University at Buffalo has launched a website to help people easily find available COVID-19 vaccination appointments across Western New York. WNY Vaccine Hound is a critical community resource that serves as a one-stop website that lists vaccination appointment openings in Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Niagara and Erie Counties. More information about WNY Vaccine Hound can be found here.

If you have a cough or a cold, you should wear a mask, and always stay home whenever you aren’t feeling well. Even if you feel fine, you might give it to someone who does not feel fine.

Also, share your vaccine experience with family members and friends who remain unvaccinated. Hearing about your experience with vaccination may help them overcome their hesitancy to get vaccinated.

The overall safety of our community is directly related to the number of people vaccinated.

Effective Aug. 3, the University at Buffalo will require all students, employees and visitors – regardless of their vaccination status – to wear face coverings while inside campus buildings. This includes classrooms, hallways, libraries, research and teaching laboratories and other common spaces, as well as UB buses and shuttles. For vaccinated individuals, face coverings are not required inside personal rooms at residence halls, while eating in on-campus dining areas, when alone within personal offices or in non-public-facing personal workstations.

The new policy is in accordance with updated guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Erie County Department of Health.

For fully vaccinated individuals, face coverings are not required inside personal rooms at residence halls, while eating in on-campus dining areas and spaces, and when alone in personal offices or workstations that are not accessible to the general public. Vaccinated individuals must wear masks when moving around the office and interacting with other employees.

Partially vaccinated or unvaccinated individuals must wear a face covering at all times, including personal offices and workstations.

Vaccinated UB students and employees will not be required to wear face coverings outdoors on UB campuses, but unvaccinated individuals will be required to wear face coverings in all outdoor settings.  

Face coverings will be required for both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals at outdoor events or settings where large groups of people congregate, such as at on-campus football games.  

From a cleanliness standpoint, there’s nothing wrong with wiping down your phone, computers and surfaces you touch, but the data show that this virus spreads primarily through the air. Being indoors with other infected individuals presents the greatest risk, particularly for those who are unvaccinated and not wearing a mask in that setting.

Students

All UB students are required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 to attend classes in person and participate in on-campus activities in the fall, according to a SUNY mandate. Full approval of the vaccine has been granted by the FDA. 

Students who do not meet this requirement by the deadlines will be immediately resigned from all courses with an in-person instructional component and will be assigned a grade of "R" for those courses.  Students are financially liable for all courses unless they have dropped or resigned by published deadlines. Visit the Student Guide Announcements Page for additional details.

Employees

All New York State employees are strongly encouraged to get vaccinated for COVID-19 by Labor Day. State employees who do not get vaccinated will be required to be tested for COVID-19 on a weekly basis. 

Students

All UB students are required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 to attend classes in person and participate in on-campus activities in the fall, according to a SUNY mandate. Full approval of the vaccine has been granted by the FDA. 

Students who do not meet this requirement by the deadlines will be immediately resigned from all courses with an in-person instructional component and will be assigned a grade of "R" for those courses.  Students are financially liable for all courses unless they have dropped or resigned by published deadlines. Visit the Student Guide Announcements Page for additional details.

Faculty and Staff

All UB students are required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 to attend classes in person and participate in on-campus activities in the fall, according to a SUNY mandate. Full approval of the vaccine has been granted by the FDA. Students who do not meet this requirement by the deadlines will be immediately dropped or resigned from all courses with an in-person instructional component. Students are financially liable for any dropped or resigned courses based upon published deadlines.

See Also

First, UB is strongly encouraging students, faculty and staff to get vaccinated, because we know the vaccines are highly effective and extremely safe. It is the best protection we have against the spread of COVID-19 and the means to end this pandemic.

If you are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated and on campus, you will need to wear a mask indoors and outdoors, and practice physical distancing whenever possible. Although these measures will decrease your risk, the best means to minimize your risk is through vaccination.

You will also need to participate in surveillance testing, as we continue to test unvaccinated students, faculty and staff who are on campus, for positive cases among the campus community.

Students and employees who are regularly on campus will no longer need to participate in mandatory weekly testing upon verifying that they have been fully vaccinated.

However, required weekly testing will continue for those who are on campus and have not been fully vaccinated or fail to verify that they have completed their vaccination series.

Human Resources has provided guidance to employees on how to provide proof of vaccination. Students can submit vaccination documentation through the Student Health Services portal.  

More infomrmation about UB's vaccination updates and protocols can be found here. 

As an additional health and safety measure, and in adherence with SUNY COVID-19 protocols, UB is requiring all students living in university owned and operated residence halls and apartments to submit proof of vaccination before moving in to their fall assignments. This decision was made given the high population density of our residence halls and apartment buildings, as well as the frequent and close contact of individuals in UB’s residential communities. Specifically, in congregate living settings, there is higher risk for spread of illness, and vaccination is a proven, preventative tool to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Requiring the vaccine protects our community and allows for the safest on-campus housing setting possible.

SUNY recently introduced a system-wide solution for all campuses to track verified COVID-19 vaccination status of SUNY students. UB has made the decision as an institution to continue to use UB Health Services to collect this information. As a result, UB students should continue to only upload their COVID-19 vaccination records to UB Health Services at https://www.buffalo.edu/studentlife/life-on-campus/health/medical-care/results-and-records.html and do not need to log into nor provide their COVID-19 vaccine information to the SUNY Vaccine Management System.

While all SUNY campuses are required to utilize this system, in the case of UB, SUNY administration will utilize existing campus-level data to assist in populating the system-wide vaccination management system. UB will be sharing limited vaccination data with SUNY in order to calculate UB’s student vaccination rate.

More infomation about UB's vaccination protocols can be found here.  You can also find information for international students here.