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On May 4, 2021, President Biden announced a goal of administering at least one vaccine shot to at least 70 percent of adult Americans and to get 160 million Americans fully vaccinated by July 4. In support of this goal, and in an effort to encourage vaccinations among younger populations, colleges across the nation have been asked to take part in the COVID-19 College Vaccine Challenge and become a COVID-19 Vaccine Champion College. Rollins has proudly joined the effort.

The vaccine challenge has outlined three key commitments, all of which Rollins has already made great strides toward fulfilling.

• Engage every student, faculty, and staff member. Make sure every member of your campus community knows they are eligible for a vaccine and has resources to find one.
• Organize your college community. Lead the way by identifying champions for vaccine efforts across campus and implementing a plan to get as many members of your college community vaccinated as possible.
• Deliver vaccine access for all. Meet your community where it is by bringing vaccines on-site and making it easy for students, staff, and faculty to get vaccinated at sites near them this summer.

Rollins began offering vaccines on campus to all faculty, staff, and students in early April. The campus community has been encouraged to get vaccinated through multiple ongoing initiatives, including the distribution of educational information explaining the safety and benefits of the vaccine. Student ambassadors were involved, encouraging fellow classmates through social media videos and posts.

The College’s multi-level dashboard includes the voluntary self-reported number of campus community members who have been vaccinated to date (the number of vaccines is updated regularly, and the remainder of the dashboard will resume daily updates August 16 as students return to campus). Vaccine appointments are offered for campus community members over the summer and will continue this fall.

“I am pleased to announce that Rollins has joined this important effort,” says President Grant H. Cornwell. “President Biden’s initiative aligns exactly with what we have encouraged on our campus this past academic year and will continue to do as we welcome students back to campus this fall.”

Track our campus vaccination rate and stay up to date on COVID-19 operations and policies at rollins.edu/covid.