Town hall on fall planning, vaccine availability

| April 16, 2021
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Note: This letter originally appeared as an email sent to the Hopkins community on April 14, 2021.

Dear Johns Hopkins Community,

In a message last Friday, we shared the university’s plans for the staged return of activity on our campuses, with the hope and expectation that the university will be substantially back to normal this fall. As an opportunity to provide feedback on our plans for fall 2021 and share your questions, we invite you to a virtual town hall scheduled for Monday, April 19, from 1 to 2 p.m. EDT. The event will be broadcast on the JHU Coronavirus Information Site. Registration is not required. Members of the university community are invited to submit questions in advance at covidtownhall@jhu.edu.

Topics to be addressed include vaccination guidelines and requirements; our planning for academics, housing, and dining; staff return; and our expectation for how COVID testing and other health and safety protocols may change in the fall with improving conditions. Panelists include:

  • Heidi Conway, Vice President for Human Resources
  • Stephen Gange, Professor and Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
  • Jon Links, Professor, Vice Provost, and Chief Risk Officer
  • Jane Schlegel, Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer
  • Alanna Shanahan, Vice Provost for Student Affairs

The town hall moderator will be Lainie Rutkow, Professor and Senior Adviser to the President. A recording will be made available shortly after it concludes.

Vaccination Appointments Through Johns Hopkins Medicine

As we communicated last week, given the importance of mass vaccination in protecting our community, we will require all students coming or returning to our campuses this fall—and who do not require health or religious exemptions—to be vaccinated. We strongly urge, and may soon require, all faculty and staff to be vaccinated as well.

We are pleased to share that as COVID-19 vaccination eligibility and availability expand, the opportunity to secure vaccination appointments through Johns Hopkins Medicine is now being broadened to include all Johns Hopkins affiliates in Maryland and Washington, D.C. Any Johns Hopkins affiliates who would like to receive the COVID-19 vaccine through JHM will be able to schedule a vaccination appointment in MyChart.

We caution, however, that vaccine allotments to Johns Hopkins Medicine continue to be somewhat limited. In response to federal recommendations, JHM has paused the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and will carefully review updated data as it is made available.

We continue to encourage all JHU affiliates to seek vaccinations through a variety of venues including health departments, retail pharmacies, and mass vaccination sites. To find a vaccine clinic in Maryland, visit the state’s vaccine locator website.

To schedule a vaccination appointment through JHM, log on to MyChart, select Visits > Schedule an Appointment and then select the COVID-19 box. After completing the screening questions, select one of the locations available for COVID-19 vaccination that’s most convenient: Turner Concourse at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins Bayview, Sibley Memorial Hospital, Suburban Hospital, or the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. If you have any questions about this new process, or need assistance scheduling an appointment, please contact the Johns Hopkins COVID Call Center at 443-287-8500 and select option 4. If you need information about how to set up your MyChart account, call the MyChart help desk at 888-676-3433.

Thank you for your continued cooperation and commitment as we envision with hope and excitement a return to more traditional university life in the fall.

Sincerely,

Stephen Gange
Professor and Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Jon Links
Professor, Vice Provost, and Chief Risk and Compliance Officer