Your Student’s COVID Bivalent Booster Requirement
Dear Goucher Family Members:
Earlier this fall, Goucher notified students and family members of our COVID-19 Bivalent Booster vaccination requirement. The COVID-19 Bivalent Booster vaccinations are due on January 9. We wanted to remind you about this upcoming deadline and enlist your support in assisting your student to meet this requirement if they have not already.
- On Monday, December 19: Holds were placed on the records of those students who had
not submitted proof of the COVID-19 Bivalent Booster. As a result, they are currently
unable to add or drop courses. The hold will be released once they have uploaded documentation
(following the instructions below) proving they have received this booster and once
that documentation has been verified by the Student Health Center. The placement of
this hold alerts students that we have not received their bivalent documentation and
allows us to further communicate with them about this.
- On Monday, January 9: Students who still have not provided proof of their COVID-19 Bivalent Booster will be removed from their spring 2023 classes and will need to re-register once they have submitted the documentation and it has been verified by the Student Health Center.
Instructions for Uploading Proof of COVID-19 Bivalent Booster:
- Student logs into their Medicat account using their Goucher username and password
- Select Upload
- Scroll down to the box where it says, “Choose Document you are Uploading,” and select Bivalent COVID-19 Booster
- Select the file to upload, attach the document, press the “Upload” button
Once complete, the Student Health Center will verify the documentation within 24-48 business hours. The hold will be automatically released approximately 24 hours after the documentation has been verified. If the documentation is insufficient, the student will be contacted via their Medicat account with instructions for how to proceed.
Please note: Students who received their booster during one of the on-campus vaccination clinics MUST upload documentation to Medicat. This is a change from last year.
If a student seeks a religious or medical exemption to the booster, the Immunization Exemption Form can be found in their Medicat account under the Forms section. Once they fill this out with the appropriate documentation, it should be uploaded to their Medicat account so the Student Health Center staff can verify and approve. Questions about these instructions should be directed to nurse@goucher.edu.
As a reminder, Goucher is following the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) COVID-19 guidelines in requiring these vaccinations. Earlier this fall, the CDC revised its definition of “up to date” vaccination as the completion of three doses of the COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer or Moderna) and the new bivalent booster. We originally notified the Goucher community of this requirement in late September.
All the best for healthy and happy holidays.
The Student Affairs and Student Success Teams