Dear Virginia Tech faculty and staff,

Virginia Tech employees who work on or near the Blacksburg campus know the incredible work the New River Health District and the New River COVID-19 Task Force have done to protect those in this region during the pandemic and to organize the efforts to provide vaccines in our community.

Now, I’m pleased to share with you that Noelle Bissell, director of the New River Health District, has informed us that the long-awaited time in which Virginia Tech faculty and staff may receive a COVID-19 vaccine has arrived.

Beginning next week, the first opportunities to receive a vaccine will be held on Tuesday, March 30, Wednesday, March 31, and Thursday, April 1, at the Dedmon Center on the campus of Radford University. Current faculty and staff will have an opportunity to sign up for appointments between 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m on these three dates. Five hundred vaccine doses will be available to Virginia Tech employees each day for a total of 1,500 vaccine doses during the three-day period.

This three day-period represents the next step in making vaccinations available to all of our employees. Approximately 1,000 employees have already been vaccinated, and we are working with the New River Health District and the New River COVID-19 Task Force to hold vaccination clinics on the Virginia Tech Blacksburg campus in the weeks that follow.

The registration process for this opportunity will be coordinated through a separate Virginia Tech registration and will not involve the state system. We will communicate with you by Wednesday, March 24, what the registration process for these three clinics will be. For these three clinics next week, the registration system will remain open through noon on Friday, March 26. Details on the registration system are forthcoming. Please watch your email and Virginia Tech News.

It is not yet known which vaccine (Moderna, Pfizer, or Johnson & Johnson) will be offered at these three clinics. Please understand this opportunity is for Virginia Tech employees only. Family members of employees are not eligible during these specifically designated Virginia Tech time blocks.

If you work in a location other than the Blacksburg campus, you may still be able to register for this opportunity, provided you are able to travel to the clinic.

I strongly encourage each and every one of you to consider the many benefits of receiving the vaccine. It is an important way to protect yourself and your family, as well as our campus and broader community.

Be committed. Be well.

Tim Sands,
President

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