Albertus Magnus College Joins COVID-19 College Vaccine Challenge

New Haven, Conn., June 2, 2021 –  Albertus Magnus College is answering the call to action to get campus communities vaccinated and put COVID-19 pandemic in the rearview mirror.  That’s why the College is joining the Biden Administration’s recently announced COVID-19 College Vaccine Challenge.  

The Challenge is to galvanize colleges to help reach young people where they are, with the information they can use, through trusted messengers they rely on, to provide opportunities and access to vaccinations.

“This is especially important over the summer when many students are away from campus.  Albertus has already put in place a plan to reach every member of our campus community – students, faculty, and staff – to encourage everyone to get vaccinated now if they haven’t already,” said Vice President for Library and Information Technology Services Steven Gstalder, Ed.D, who heads the College’s COVID-19 Task Force. 

The pledge asks colleges to:

• Engage every student, faculty, and staff member, making sure every member of the campus community
  knows they are eligible for a vaccine and has resources to find one.  Albertus has been sending out weekly messages to communicate about opportunities to get the vaccine and the reasons why.
• Organize the college community by identifying champions for vaccine efforts.  Albertus has hosted several town hall sessions, is holding a vaccine webinar with a panel of experts, and enlisting students, staff, and faculty to post motivational messages on social media.
• Deliver vaccine access for all by meeting your community where it is.  For this, Albertus has shared information as to where vaccine opportunities are taking place; set up a dedicated clinic at a Yale New Haven Hospital site for students; is planning a mobile clinic from Griffin Health to come to campus this summer; and has developed a temperature chart for showing the percentage of the Albertus Community that has received the vaccine.

“Colleges have been leading the way throughout the pandemic to keep their communities safe and healthy.  That’s why Albertus is taking this pledge,” added Gstalder.