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Get your shot! UT chancellor urges students to get vaccine, welcomes public as well

The free vaccine is the only way to conquer the pandemic, officials said.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — With only three weeks of classes left, University of Tennessee leaders are urging all students to get a free COVID-19 vaccine while they can on campus.

One big reason to get it: Campus residents will no longer have to submit regular spit samples for testing, a task that's annoying for just about everyone as UT tries to keep track of the presence of the virus.

Vaccines are the only way the population is going to conquer the pandemic, UT Chancellor Donde Plowman and UT Student Health Center Director Dr. Spencer Gregg said Friday morning in the regular online COVID-19 update.

On Friday morning, UT gave out its 10,000th shot -- this one to a UT student at the Student Union.

UT is making the vaccine available at the Health Center for students and employees on a sign-up basis, and it's also offering the vaccine at occasional clinics at the Student Union to the campus community and the public at large.

"We have plenty of vaccine available next week," Plowman said Friday.

UT is offering the one-shot Johnson & Johnson shot. A public clinic is planned Tuesday, April 13.

More information about getting a vaccine at UT here.

UT is not requiring students to get a vaccine. But Plowman, who has been vaccinated herself, said she's strongly encouraging them to get the shot.

The university alerted employees this week they should all expect to be back on campus by June 1 to prepare for the fall semester. Many have been working from home since the pandemic broke out in March 2020.

Provost John Zomchick said the plan is to be fully in-person for the fall. Administrators hope the campus will feel like it used to before the virus hit.

Everyone getting a shot will help make that happen, Plowman said.

Spring classes end April 28. There was no spring break this year, only a single day that students officially were off.

Case counts and isolations/quarantines have been falling in recent days among the UT population.

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