In separate memos sent to students and to faculty and staff on Tuesday, the University stressed the importance of vaccinations in the fight against COVID-19. Photo by Janice Checchio

University News

Here’s How to Upload Your COVID-19 Vaccination Documentation

All students are required to be vaccinated for the fall semester, BU still weighing mandatory vaccines for faculty and staff

Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, or Johnson & Johnson—whatever COVID-19 vaccine you’ve already gotten or will eventually get, if you are student, you will have to submit proof of your immunization before Boston University classes start in the fall. 

And now new University guidelines are here to help you do that. Vaccination is mandatory for students, who must upload their documentation to Patient Connect. Faculty and staff will use Healthway. Find step-by-step directions and additional information below.

Students

As announced earlier this week, all Boston University students have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before coming to campus in the fall. (Waivers are available for medical contraindications and religious exemptions.) 

“As we look forward to returning to a more normal campus life in the fall, the University is monitoring the progress of our fight against COVID-19,” reads a memo from Healthway sent to students Tuesday afternoon. “Because we expect that COVID-19 will continue to present a health risk, the University will require that all students enrolled in classes on our campuses be vaccinated before the start of classes in the fall of 2021.”

In the memo to students, Healthway details how to upload your COVID-19 vaccination record card, or “vaccine passport,” proving you’ve been vaccinated. It’s the same process as uploading any other immunization record—after logging in to your Patient Connect record:

• Click the “Messages” menu option, then click “New Message.”
• Select the “COVID-19 (Coronavirus)” message option, then “Continue,” then the “COVID-19 Vaccine Documentation Upload” option.
• Upload an image of your COVID-19 vaccine documentation, making sure that the administered dates are clearly visible. Enter each appointment date, check off the vaccine manufacturer, check both acknowledgements, and click “Send.”

And that’s it. If you get or have gotten either the Moderna or the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, wait to upload documentation until after you get your second dose. (Johnson & Johnson requires only one shot, but on Tuesday federal health officials recommended pausing J&J vaccinations while they investigate whether the cases of very rare blood clots reported in six of those who received the J&J vaccine are connected to that vaccine.) If you cannot get vaccinated before coming to campus, don’t worry—BU will try to help you get vaccinated in the fall. Also, if you were vaccinated earlier this year at the Charles River Vaccination Clinic or if you’ve already uploaded your documentation, note that the University has a record of your vaccination and you don’t need to upload anything else. 

Have a nonmedical question about the vaccine? Email healthwayhelp@bu.edu or call the Healthway COVID-19 Support Line at 617-353-0550 and press 4, from 7 am to 11 pm, seven days a week. Visit Back2BU for information on how to upload a vaccination exemption form.

Faculty and staff

At this time, the University is still considering whether to require vaccinations for faculty and staff. However, all are “strongly encouraged” to get vaccinated before the fall semester, according to a separate memo sent to faculty and staff on Tuesday. And if you do get, or have gotten, vaccinated, you will have to upload proof.

“Designing appropriate health protocols requires an accurate understanding of the number of individuals in our community who have been vaccinated,” reads the memo. “Therefore, we are asking all faculty and staff to provide vaccination documentation after they are fully vaccinated.”

To submit your vaccination documentation, go to Healthway:

• Click on the red Faculty & Staff button, then log in to the Occupational Health Connect Portal using your Kerberos password.
• Click the “Upload COVID & Vaccine Docs” blue bar on the left of the screen.
• Select “COVID-19 Vaccine Documentation” from the drop-down menu. Upload a photo of your CDC vaccination card here. PNG, PDF, or JPG files are all accepted.
• To complete your document upload, select the green Submit button.
• You will receive an email from ohcinfo@bu.edu to confirm your upload is complete.
• An additional email will arrive when your document has been reviewed and accepted by clinical staff.
• Emailed submissions of documentation are no longer accepted.

If you get or have gotten either the Moderna or the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, wait to upload documentation until after you get your second dose. (Johnson & Johnson requires only one shot, but on Tuesday federal health officials recommended pausing J&J vaccinations while they investigate whether the cases of very rare blood clots reported in six of those who received the J&J vaccine are connected to that vaccine.) And if you’ve already uploaded your documentation or were vaccinated earlier this year at the Charles River Vaccination Clinic, you don’t need to upload anything else. 

In deciding whether or not to make vaccination mandatory for faculty and staff, BU is “taking into consideration advice from public health experts and the best scientific evidence available in the weeks ahead,” the memo says. “If vaccines are made mandatory for faculty and staff, a process for medical and religious exemptions will be established, and reasonable accommodations will be provided under applicable law.”

Have a nonmedical question about the vaccine? Email covidhelp@bu.edu or call the Healthway COVID-19 Support Line at 617-358-4990 weekdays from 9 am to 5 pm.