FAA Academy director, Jim Doskow and deputy director, Valdrie Buford sought to have academy staff and FAA students eligible to receive Covid-19 vaccines as soon as the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) had the ability to deliver them.
The Academy staff became eligible to receive the vaccine once CAMI received a supply from the Oklahoma City County Health Department in early March. The collaboration to immunize students was initially a discussion between Jim Doskow and Dr. Karen Heupel. This seemed to be a good approach to preventing COVID in our student and instructor populations. It became quickly obvious that the vaccinations would be beneficial to the entire working population at MMAC.
With the assistance of Dr. Antuñano and Michelle Coppedge, this idea was introduced to the FAA’s Incident Management Team (IMT). With their approval, the Oklahoma County Health Department provided the COVID-19 Vaccine. The State of Oklahoma moved into Phase 3 of vaccination eligibility at the end of March, allowing for the inclusion of FAA students. Jim Doskow asked Roosevelt McLemore, AMA-400 division manager and Dwain Davis, AMA-500 division manager to develop a plan to vaccinate students. They worked with Dr. Heupel of the CAMI Clinic to ensure an executable plan, and now we have students who are choosing to receive the COVID vaccine while in training at the FAA Academy.
CAMI started vaccinations on March 2, 2021 after receiving the Pfizer vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine is a two-dose series, given 21 days apart. The CAMI Occupational Health Clinic has provided 833 vaccination doses as of April 9, 2021.
Student vaccinations officially began on March 11, 2021 when Oklahoma moved into Phase 3. The option for student vaccinations will continue as long as there is enough interest in getting the COVID-19 vaccination. Details are being worked out for organizing a separate student immunization time at CAMI to limit the impact on training classes.
To date, twenty-eight students have received the vaccine. It is difficult to determine how many students will be vaccinated, since it is dependent upon how many students are interested in receiving the shot. The vaccine is voluntary at this time. Two weeks after being fully vaccinated, students and instructors would not have to quarantine if they come in contact with someone with COVID-19. This will reduce the classroom disruptions due to COVID-19. In addition, it will help the rest of the FAA when the vaccinated students depart MMAC for their follow-on assignments.
If a student would like to get vaccinated, they need to provide their name, organizational routing symbol, email and phone number in an email requesting the vaccine to this address: 9-AVS-AAM-700-CAMI-Clinic@faa.gov or contact the CAMI Occupational Health Clinic at 405-954-3711.
If you have additional questions, feel free to check out the website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
