Vaccine & Booster FAQs

Students must upload documentation of the appropriate doses of an FDA-authorized vaccine into the Student Health Portal:

The documentation must show*:

• Student’s name
• The name of the vaccine received (e.g., Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson)
• Date of the dose(s)
• Who provided the vaccine (e.g., name of the clinic, COVID-19 CDC Vaccination Record card, name of the pharmacy, etc.).
• Student’s date of birth
• Wake Forest ID number (not required but recommended)

* students may write in any of the above information on their vaccine documentation if needed. 

NOTE: after uploading into the Student Health Portal, please allow 3-5 business days for the documentation to be processed. Students will not see a “compliant” indicator in the Student Health Portal until 14 days after their second dose of Pfizer or Moderna, or 14 days after their single Johnson & Johnson dose.

• Students who receive an exemption from vaccination will be required to wear face coverings at all times when indoors except in your residence hall room.
• Students who receive an exemption must submit to regular asymptomatic testing.
• Students who receive an exemption will be required to quarantine per University policy if exposed to a COVID-positive person.

Antibodies are not recommended to be used as evidence of immunity by the CDC nor the FDA and will not be permitted as proof of nonsusceptibility to COVID. All students must have an FDA-authorized vaccine (unless they have been granted a medical or religious exemption).

After consideration of the scientific data and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines that do not hold current FDA authorization, our infectious disease consultant, Dr. Chris Ohl, recommends revaccination with an FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccine in order to protect the Wake Forest Community against transmission of COVID-19. The minimum interval between the last dose of a non-FDA-authorized vaccine and an FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccine is 28 days.

After consideration of the scientific data and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines that do not hold current FDA authorization, Dr. Ohl recommended revaccination with an FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccine in order to protect the Wake Forest community against transmission of COVID-19. The reasoning was that other vaccines authorized by the World Health Organization in some settings have been less effective in preventing symptomatic cases of COVID-19 especially in the context of the delta variant.  Our goal with the vaccine program was to 1) decrease the risk of serious illnesses and hospitalizations from COVID-19 as well as 2) decrease the incidence of symptomatic infections on campus.  Decreasing symptomatic cases will decrease the public health measures such as quarantine, isolation, and contact tracing needed to manage COVID-19.  This will allow the campus to operate in a more “normal” fashion in addition to increasing the safety of our campus.

Newly hired colleagues must be fully vaccinated prior to their first day of work.

Colleagues may request a medical or religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccination requirement by completing the Employee COVID-19 Exemption Request form.

The university will review exemption requests as they are submitted. If a request is denied, the individual will be notified and will have 10 business days from the date of notification to provide proof of receiving the first COVID-19 vaccine dose.

Colleagues who wish to be exempt from the COVID-19 vaccine requirement must submit an exemption request, regardless of previous exemption approvals. The COVID-19 vaccine and the influenza vaccine (flu shot) have different contraindications and require separate medical exemption requests. The university has implemented a new process for reviewing and approving religious exemptions, so any previously approved religious exemptions for last year’s flu shot requirement are no longer valid.

If you were vaccinated at one of the WFU-hosted on-campus or drive-through flu shot clinics, you are not required to upload documentation; Human Resources tracked influenza vaccine compliance during the check-in process. If you received a flu shot from your physician or at a local pharmacy, you should access your vaccination documentation via their online portal, or contact the facility directly for your documentation and submit it using the Employee Influenza Vaccine form.

The COVID-19 vaccine and the influenza vaccine have different contraindications and require separate medical exemption requests. If you were approved for a medical exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine, you are required to submit a separate medical exemption request from the flu shot by completing the Employee Influenza Vaccine form. Approved religious exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine may be applied to the influenza vaccine, if the strongly held belief is consistent between both exemptions. Colleagues who have already received an approval for a religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine and would like to apply it to the flu shot may do so when you complete the required Employee Influenza Vaccine form.

The CDC explains that side effects from the vaccine are normal signs that your body is building protection. Common side effects include pain and swelling in the arm, as well as fever, chills, tiredness, and headache. These side effects may affect your ability to do daily activities, but they should go away in a few days. Staff who are experiencing side effects are encouraged to use Paid Time Off (PTO) while they recover.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission explains that employers may ask employees to disclose their vaccination status. Currently, Wake Forest is asking employees to provide this information by submitting their vaccination status in Workday. Human Resources is maintaining a list of all employees who have not been approved to be unmasked in the workplace.

Supervisors are provided with updated lists of employees who have not been approved to be unmasked in the workplace and will be expected to enforce masking requirements and participating in asymptomatic testing. Staff who do not comply with the masking and testing requirements outlined in the University COVID-19 Policy and protocols will be subject to corrective action up to and including termination.

Faculty and staff who completed the vaccine survey prior to August 2, 2021, were provided an option to consent to WFBH verification of vaccination details. If you consented to this, you are not required to provide vaccination documentation unless WFBH could not verify your record. If you did not consent or were vaccinated outside of North Carolina, you can update your vaccination status and upload vaccination documents into Workday using these instructions.