late breaking news! vaccines

[Bill Maurer]

    Dear social sciences faculty, staff, lecturers, grad students, and researchers,

    Happy Monday! By now most of you will have seen the campus communication
    about Orange County launching Phase 1B of its Covid-19 vaccine
    distribution plan. According to today's latest update, emailed
    around 3pm to all campus employees, this means us!

    BUT NOT REALLY. Well, sort of. It's complicated.

    As I've said before, it's our first pandemic, and some communications
    are not always as clear or specific as they could be. While we're
    all eligible under Phase 1B, vaccine availability will continue to
    be the primary factor in who gets the vaccine when.

    Community vaccine distribution

    Orange County is now vaccinating those in group 1B, which includes
    people who work in education–this was the big news in today’s email
    from Strategic Communication. If you live in Orange County, you can
    sign up to be notified of appointment availability through this
    link:  https://occovid19.ochealthinfo.com/covid-19-vaccine-resources.

    Please do keep an eye out for any information sent out by your
    health provider or the public health agency of your county or city,
    and if there’s a reservation system, get on it!

    UCI vaccine availability

    Now, the campus only receives a limited number of doses, and is
    continuing to prioritize those 65 and over who have not yet been
    vaccinated. Next, it is offering the vaccine -- based on availability
    -- to employees whose work requires them to (a) be on campus and
    (b) be in physical proximity to other people. And finally... all
    of the information systems being used to determine who's next in
    terms of priority are kind of kludgy. (Kludge is one of my favorite
    nouns. It's just so versatile, and oh so appropriate for many of
    our administrative contexts). The campus has lists comprised of
    people completing the wellness app indicating that they're coming
    to campus; it has lists of those approved for Phase II research
    activities on campus; our school also indicated who among the Phase
    2 researchers were doing work involving human subjects; there are
    payroll lists; I am sure there are other lists. All kludged together
    somehow to come up with the list that is now being used to generate
    emails telling people to register for an appointment to get the
    vaccine. The output does not always make sense.

    But here's my take:

    1) First, be patient. The vaccine production and distribution issues
    facing the whole country are starting to get resolved, slowly but
    surely. In a few weeks, the vaccine should be everywhere, and it's
    not going to matter who's on what list.

    2) Second, if you receive an email saying, "you're eligible! come
    and get it!" then JUST GO GET THE VACCINE, even if you can't figure
    out why you got a message but your colleague or coworker did not.
    You'll be given a 2-3 day window for the actual vaccination date,
    but you need to follow the instructions in the email you'll receive
    in order to sign up. Sign up as soon as you get that email, and
    then, please don't miss your appointment! The message will come
    from "UCI Campus Employee COVID-19 Vaccination Program."

    3) Supervisors are also receiving messages saying that members of
    their teams are eligible. Encourage your people to get the shot!

    OK? I know it's both exciting and frustrating, and the emails that
    are starting to go out do not necessarily help matters. But more
    generalized vaccination is starting to happen, and that's a terrific
    thing, some of the best news we've had all quarter.

    Take good care,
    Bill