Jan. 5 - Jan. 31 booster deadline, gift card drawing
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Fiat Lux: Sunbeams break through mist in Aldrich Park. Photo by Ian Parker
UCI ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEWS
Reminder: Get your COVID-19 vaccination booster by Jan. 31 if you are eligible
UC policy requires that students, staff and faculty keep their COVID-19 vaccination status up-to-date. This includes boosters for those who are eligible. You are eligible for a booster if it is at least six months past your second dose of the Moderna vaccine, five months past your second dose of Pfizer or two months past your Johnson & Johnson vaccine. This means if your last dose of:
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Moderna was on or before July 31, or
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Pfizer was on or before Aug. 31, or
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Johnson & Johnson was on or before Nov. 30,
you are currently eligible for a booster dose, and you are required to get boosted and need to upload proof of booster vaccination by no later than Jan. 31. Those who become eligible after Jan. 31 must be boosted and upload their documentation no more than 15 days after they are eligible. Visit UCI Forward for more information about boosters. If you have questions, contact UCI’s COVID-19 Response Center at 949-824-9918 between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays or covid19@uci.edu.
Prize drawing deadline nears for those who received boosters
Get boosted and upload your verification by Friday, Jan. 7, to be entered into a drawing for one of 100 $50 Amazon gift cards that will be given away.
UCI research could lead to new treatments and potential cures for blindness
In collaboration with the Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry, UCI researchers have revealed for the first time key structural determinants of the highly specialized rod outer segment membrane architecture of the eye, which is instrumental to vision. Their study, published in eLife, provides “insight into how the viability of the retina is compromised by diseases, like retinitis pigmentosa and Stargardt disease,” according to corresponding author Krzysztof Palczewki, Donald Bren Professor of ophthalmology.
UC NEWS AND GENERAL NEWS
What is ‘flurona’?
As omicron surges, coronavirus and influenza co-infections have been detected in the U.S., Israel, Brazil, the Philippines and Hungary. Doctors have long been concerned about the potential impact of a "twindemic.”
Free COVID tests available in Orange County
County Supervisor Katrina Foley maintains that tests are available; it’s just a matter of getting the information into the public’s hands. Tests can be requested at ochealthinfo.com/COVIDtest or by calling the county’s COVID-19 hotline Monday through Friday at 714-834-2000.
EVENTS
Constructing History: the Inka and Spanish Empires through the Archaeology of the Huarochirí Manuscript (circa 1608) Humanities Core Talk
Friday, 11 a.m. (sponsored by UCI Illuminations)
Visit today.uci.edu to see and submit event listings. Events of general interest will be shared in UCI Digest two days before they occur.
UCI IN THE NEWS
Note: Some news sites require subscriptions to read articles. The UCI Libraries offer free subscriptions to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Orange County Register and The Washington Post for students, faculty and staff.
COVID case counts may be losing importance amid omicron
Associated Press, Jan. 4
Cited: Andrew Noymer, associate professor of population health & disease prevention
Prenatal genetic testing often wrong
Fox News (video), Jan. 4
Guest: Pamela Flodman, associate adjunct professor of pediatrics and director of the Graduate Program in Genetic Counseling
Virus-based sensor detects bladder cancer markers in urine
C&En News, Dec. 21
Cited: Reginald M. Penner, associate dean and Chancellor’s Professor of chemistry, and Gregory A. Weiss, professor of chemistry
#UCICONNECTED
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