Upload your vaccination documentation today
July 1, 2021
Dear Faculty, Students, and Staff,
The Johns Hopkins Vaccine Management System (VMS) is live and ready for you to upload your COVID vaccination documentation. The deadline for JHU affiliates—faculty, postdoctoral fellows, undergrad/grad students, and staff (including bargaining unit members)—to upload their documentation under the university’s vaccination mandate is August 1. We encourage you to submit your documentation as soon as possible.
Click this link to upload your vaccination documentation to VMS now.
As of today, July 1, those who have submitted documentation that they are fully vaccinated against COVID will no longer be required to wear a mask indoors on Johns Hopkins University property or worksites.
JHU has transitioned into Phase 3 of our COVID response plans. Because of improving public health conditions, the relaxation of city and state regulations, and new guidance from the CDC and our own experts in public health and infectious disease, we are now able to safely scale back most of our COVID control measures throughout the university, including an end to the masking requirement for those who are vaccinated.
All JHU affiliates are required to register their vaccine status. Full details about how to submit your vaccination documentation and the new policies in effect in Phase 3 are below. Please note that faculty, students, and staff at the School of Medicine are governed by the policies and deadlines of Johns Hopkins Medicine, which shared its guidance earlier today.
How to use the VMS
The JHU Vaccine Management System—the VMS—must be used to submit your documentation for COVID-19 by August 1, and will be used to document the flu vaccine later this fall.
The VMS will ask you to upload a photo of your vaccination card or other formal documentation of vaccination. The photo must clearly show your name and that you have been fully vaccinated. For those who have received a two-dose vaccine (e.g., Pfizer or Moderna), your documentation must indicate that you have received your second dose. Affiliates who have received a WHO-authorized vaccine overseas will need to upload a certified English translation of the documentation. If you were vaccinated through a JHM clinic, your documentation may already be recorded; if so, you will receive an email confirmation and will not need to access the VMS or do anything further.
Additional instructions for using VMS are available here. If you encounter any problems, please write to VMS@jhu.edu or stop by the testing center at the Glass Pavilion on the Homewood Campus (Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) for in-person assistance.
Compliance monitoring through Prodensity
We will continue to use the Prodensity app to monitor compliance with JHU COVID safety policies, including the vaccination mandate. (To learn more about health and safety compliance please click here.) If an affiliate is not compliant with the vaccination mandate or the masking and COVID testing requirements associated with an approved exception to the mandate, they will receive a red campus pass and will not be able to access campus and/or JHU resources. Fully remote individuals, including 100% remote staff and online students, are exempt from this but need to confirm their location via Prodensity by August 1.
Those who have not yet downloaded Prodensity can do so here. Those who already have the app should make sure they have updated to the latest version. Help with getting and using Prodensity can be found here or by emailing testinginfo@jhu.edu.
Phase 3 policies
Phase 3 of JHU’s COVID response plan represents a return to near-normal conditions as we prepare for the fall semester. Our ability to safely make this transition reflects the improved public health conditions locally and nationally and the increasing rates of vaccination. However, we will continue to carefully monitor the situation, and if conditions worsen or state and local regulations change, we will not hesitate to reinstate additional COVID control measures to preserve the health of our community. Again, School of Medicine affiliates are governed by Johns Hopkins Medicine policies, which were shared earlier today.
As of today, July 1, 2021:
- JHU faculty, staff, postdocs, and students who are fully vaccinated and have uploaded their vaccine documentation to VMS will no longer be required to wear face-coverings indoors. “Fully vaccinated” occurs two weeks after your second dose in a two-dose series, such as the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or two weeks after a single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine.
- Affiliates who are fully vaccinated and have uploaded their vaccine documentation to VMS are no longer required to be tested, with the exception of undergraduate residential students who must continue to be tested one time each week.
- Those who have submitted an exception request or received confirmation of an approved exception to the vaccine mandate will be required to test for COVID twice a week and to wear face coverings in indoor settings unless they are in a single-occupancy office with a closed door, or eating or drinking at a physical distance of at least six feet from any other person.
- Campus guests who are NOT vaccinated, or are unable to provide documentation of vaccination, are required to continue to wear face-coverings while on JHU property. By not wearing a face-covering, guests are affirmatively self-attesting that they are vaccinated. Details of our visitor and guest policies are available here.
More information
Details about how to get vaccinated, who the vaccine mandate applies to, and how to apply for an exception to the mandate are included below and can also be found on covidinfo.jhu.edu, along with updated FAQs. If you can’t find the answer to your question in the FAQs, you may email VMS@JHU.edu.
Please submit your vaccine documentation as soon as possible so we can bring our community back together safely and quickly.
Just as importantly, please take some time this summer to rest and recharge. Many of us postponed or cancelled vacations that were scheduled during the pandemic and we hope you will be able to enjoy a break before we reengage fully this fall.
Sincerely,
Stephen Gange
Professor and Executive Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
Jon Links
Professor, Vice Provost, and Chief Risk and Compliance Officer
Jane Schlegel
Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer
How to get vaccinated
If you have not been vaccinated, we encourage you to do so as soon as possible and no later than the August 1 deadline.
All Johns Hopkins affiliates in Maryland and Washington, D.C., can schedule a vaccination appointment through Johns Hopkins Medicine in MyChart. Johns Hopkins University is also hosting an open, free vaccine clinic on the Homewood campus on Thursday, July 8, where faculty, staff, students, contractors and their families can receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Walk-ins are welcome, but you may also contact JhMDVaxinfo@jhu.edu to schedule an appointment in advance.
Visit the COVID Vaccine Information site for more information about the clinic. Vaccinations are free, and staff can use JHU’s special COVID-19 vaccine leave to take time off as needed for vaccination.
Who is covered by the vaccination mandate
COVID vaccination is required beginning August 1 for all JHU faculty, staff, postdoctoral fellows, and undergraduate and graduate students who will be working or studying at a U.S.–based Johns Hopkins University campus or worksite (including Keswick, Mt. Washington, Washington, D.C. campuses, etc.).
This vaccination requirement also applies to bargaining unit employees and contractors, with the exception of contractors or vendors whose presence at any JHU property is solely limited to the delivery of mail and goods.
School of Medicine affiliates, including members of both clinical and non-clinical departments, will be governed by JHM policy. The vaccination mandate also does not apply to Applied Physics Laboratory employees, except those who are engaged in other university activities (e.g., teaching a course).
Requesting an exception to the mandate
Johns Hopkins will grant exceptions to the COVID vaccination mandate for medical or religious reasons, with appropriate documentation, and for women who are pregnant or trying to conceive.
Requests for exceptions to the vaccine mandate must be made through the VMS by August 1. On Friday, July 16, functionality will be added to the VMS that enables women who are either pregnant or attempting to get pregnant to request an exception. If you would like to request a pregnancy exception, please wait until then to access the VMS to submit your request.
Having had COVID-19 in the past is NOT a permissible exception. However, if you were treated for COVID-19 symptoms with monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma, you should wait 90 days before getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Affiliates in that situation may request a medical exception past August 1 to wait to get the vaccine until 90 days have elapsed.
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