SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras announced a program specifically designed to begin vaccinating SUNY residential students prior the end of the spring semester.

SUNY has secured its first reserved shipment of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine to inoculate SUNY residential students prior to their departure for summer break. Because the J&J vaccine requires just one dose, tens of thousands of on-campus students scheduled to finish the semester in early May can get their one shot without having to wait weeks for a second dose before going home.

As vaccine eligibility expands to all New Yorkers ages 16 and older, 18,600 J&J vaccines are being distributed to 34 SUNY campuses. SUNY is currently working alongside New York State to secure additional doses to be reserved specifically for the SUNY residential student population. Those will be distributed to more campuses in weekly installments over the next several weeks.

With college students becoming eligible to receive the vaccine today, SUNY strongly encourages all students to schedule their vaccine appointments before the semester ends, and if possible, to choose points of distribution set aside specifically for college students. The availability of the one-shot J&J vaccine will be particularly helpful to residential students, who may be scheduled to leave campus for summer break before they can receive a second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.

More than 350,000 students are receiving email messages today to remind them of their eligibility. The messages also connect students with reliable facts about available vaccines, provide directions for making an appointment, and review recommended health guidelines to follow once you’re vaccinated.

SUNY is also inviting students to share their purpose for getting vaccinated on social media with a photo or short video as part of the #ItsYourTurn and #KnowYourVax public education campaigns to make sure all students get vaccinated. The complementing campaigns were launched last month to dispel vaccine myths and misinformation and to link students, faculty, and staff with reliable information from experts about the many benefits of receiving one. The #KnowYourVax campaign features more than two dozen videos PSAs in eleven different languages.

“SUNY has vigorously advocated on behalf of our students, faculty, and staff to make sure they were eligible for the COVID vaccine and we have worked diligently for months to prepare for this moment,” said Chancellor Malatras. “Giving residential students the one-shot option helps clear a crucial logistical hurdle in the race to get people fully vaccinated before they leave campus and return to their hometown communities. We strongly encourage all students to schedule their appointments as soon as they can; to do their part in protecting themselves, their families, and their communities; and to help spread the word about the many benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines. Our students have been unsung heroes since the beginning of this health crisis, and with the pandemic’s finish line firmly in sight, we expect them to play a pivotal role in finally putting COVID-19 behind us. I want to thank our New York State partners who helped secure these vaccines, as well as the dedicated teams and volunteers on the county and campus level that are working swiftly to set up student-specific points of distribution.”

SUNY currently houses 44 state and county-run vaccination sites on 36 campuses. These sites have administered more than 900,000 vaccines since December, with approximately 17,000 vaccines administered each day as allotment continues to grow.