All schools in Upshur County will close at 1 p.m. today. All B-UHS sporting events today are canceled.

WVU to offer students, employees incentives for COVID-19 vaccine verification

WVU Stewart Hall

West Virginia University will begin an incentive program for students and employees who have verified their COVID-19 vaccine by Aug. 1. 

The program, which will begin July 1, is intended to increase the number of students, faculty and staff who verify their vaccination information by the Aug. 1 deadline. 

Incentives include, but are not limited to: 

  • Free Chick-fil-A    
  • Free Starbucks    
  • Free meal plans, Mountie Bounty and Dining Dollars 
  • Adventure WV trips 
  • Guaranteed football or basketball student season tickets  
  • Free textbooks for a semester 
  • Barnes & Noble shopping spree 
  • $500 deposit into a student organization of choice 
  • Dinner for 6 with President Gordon Gee at Blaney House 
  • Additional WVU prize packs 

Those who have verified their vaccine will be randomly selected throughout July to receive a variety of these giveaways. Winners will be notified via email. Official rules and a finalized list of giveaways will be available by Thursday, July 1. 

If the University reaches a 70% vaccination verification rate by Aug. 1, the University is also committed to holding a large concert like FallFest at some point this academic year. 

Those who wish to be vaccinated can find available vaccines locations at vaccines.gov.  

For those who want to wait until closer to Aug. 1 to be vaccinated, the last possible date to receive a first shot in time to verify full vaccination by Aug. 1 would be: 

  • Moderna: Saturday, July 3 (since July 4 is a holiday and many vaccination locations may be closed) 
  • Pfizer: Sunday, July 11 
  • Johnson & Johnson: Sunday, Aug. 1 

All students, faculty and staff must verify their vaccine status by Aug. 1 at http://myhousing.wvu.edu. This video explains the steps and information needed to complete verification. 

For questions about the COVID-19 vaccine, email covidvaccine@mail.wvu.edu. For questions about the vaccine incentive program, email returntocampus@mail.wvu.edu. 

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