Vaccine

GW will require students, faculty, and staff who are in person this fall to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 prior to being on campus. 

The following guidance will apply to this new requirement:

• Any vaccine authorized for use in the U.S. will be accepted. 
• Current students, faculty, and staff should upload their vaccination card to the medical portal.  Instructions for this process are available here.
• We will grant limited exemptions, such as for medical or religious reasons.  We will provide more guidance on the exemption process in the coming weeks.
• All GW community members who come to campus are required to be vaccinated.  Students who are online-only and faculty and staff approved to work 100 percent remotely will not be required to have received the vaccine.
• We will exercise discretion in enforcing the mandate for those who have extenuating circumstances that are beyond their control and that will cause delays in vaccination.

More detailed information about the new requirement is available in our FAQs.
 

Vaccine Availability

To date, the university has not been provided a supply of COVID-19 vaccines to distribute directly to our students, faculty, and staff. We will continue to work with the local D.C.-area jurisdictions to get approval to distribute the vaccine directly to the members of our community as soon as possible. In the meantime, we encourage our community members to attempt to get the vaccine in the jurisdiction where they live and work as soon as possible.

 Information on vaccine distribution in the District, Maryland and Virginia is below. For those outside of the D.C.-region, we recommend you contact your local health department for information on the COVID-19 vaccine plan in your area. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides a list of states and territories online. 

Vaccine Documentation Verification

Members of the GW community may upload their COVID-19 vaccination records to the medical portal for verification by a medical provider. Only upload documentation after receiving full doses of the vaccine (two doses for Moderna and Pfizer and one for Johnson & Johnson). Once verified, fully vaccinated individuals may also be exempt from exposure and travel quarantines.

If you have received the COVID-19 vaccine, you should still continue following CDC’s recommendations to protect yourself and others. Regardless of vaccination status, on-campus cohort members must continue required COVID-19 testing and symptom monitoring.

Instructions to Upload COVID-19 Vaccine Documentation: 

• Take a photo or scan your vaccination record, and keep a copy for your own records. 
• Log into the medical portal.
• Click on "Medical Clearances."  
• Look for "Add COVID Vaccine Record" and click "Update." 
• Click the "Upload" button to upload a copy or photo of your vaccination record. Please note that your record must be in JPEG format. PDFs cannot be uploaded.

The Colonial Health Center (students) or Occupational Health (faculty and staff) will review your vaccination record and add it to your medical record. This is a manual process and may take up to a week for your record to be updated. 

On-Campus Cohort Guidance
Regardless of vaccination status, on-campus cohort members must continue required COVID-19 testing and symptom monitoring. 

If you develop symptoms within 48 hours after receiving any dose of the vaccine, do not indicate them on your daily survey. Instead, students should contact the Colonial Health Center at 202-994-5300 and staff and faculty should contact Occupational Health at 202-677-6230 to review their status with a medical provider. 

Should symptoms continue or appear more than 48 hours after receiving any dose of the vaccine, indicate them on your daily survey. A medical provider will determine if you require additional testing.

Vaccine Research at GW

For more information about GW's vaccine research, visit the COVID-19 Vaccine Trials at GW website.