Throughout September, the UW System has publicized a series of data on the percentage of vaccinated students on each UW System main campus. The most recent report on Sept. 24 illuminates the disparity between vaccination rates among the UW System campuses.

Tommy Thompson, UW System interim President, has been promoting student vaccination with the incentive of the “70 for 70” scholarship campaign. 

The goal of the program is to encourage the percentage of student vaccination rates to breach 70%, a threshold which was “chosen based on estimates about the percentage of the population needed to reach herd immunity,” according to a UW System announcement in late July.

Once a campus reaches 70% of students complely vaccinated, the vaccinated student body automatically is entered into a raffle for 70 scholarships worth $7,000 with the exception of UW-Madison.

From data released on Sept. 22, four out of 13 campuses have reached 70%: UW-Madison at 93%, UW-Milwaukee at 81%, UW-La Crosse at 75% and UW-Eau Claire at 74%. 

Additionally, the System publicized on Sept. 24 that UW-Oshkosh and UW-Whitewater had breached 70%.

The other seven campuses have the following vaccination rates as of Sept. 22: UW-Stout, 65%; UW-River Falls, 61%; UW-Green Bay, 58%; UW-Superior, 51%; UW-Stevens Point, 49%; UW-Platteville, 49%; and UW-Parkside, 41%.

The system initially reported campus vaccination rates on Sept. 15. In this preliminary report, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Whitewater and UW-Oshkosh had not breached 70% yet. Respectively, these campuses had 69%, 64% and 61%. UW-Platteville reported a 47% student vaccination rate at that time.

A comparison of UW System campus data to CDC county data suggests most campuses have a larger complete vaccination rate of the student body than their county has of the residential population, with the exception of UW-Superior, UW-Stevens Point, and UW-Parkside.

Differences in the campus data and county data could be explained in

a variety of ways. Students on campus have a common, vested interest in vaccinating to produce a safe environment for in-person education. Students gather on campus for lectures, labs and jobs coming from outside of campus – visting their hometown, walking from their apartment down the street or making the commute from adjacent communities – which heightens the importance of vaccination protection.

At the end of last week, The system extended the deadline for the 70 for 70 campaign  from Oct. 15 to Oct. 31. In the UW System media publication on the extension, Thompson stated that “Extending the deadline as our vaccination rates grow will afford more students the opportunity to participate, as getting two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine requires students to act sooner than later to complete the series … our priority is to make our universities healthy and safe, so we can deliver the college experience students deserve and parents expect. High vaccination rates are key to our success.”