Return to on-site work

Verification of COVID-19 vaccination for authorized Workday roles

Last updated: November 1, 2022

The University of Washington requires all employees to be fully vaccinated as a condition of employment. Employees must provide proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 unless a UW-documented medical or religious exemption is approved. New hires/appointees to University employment may meet this requirement by providing proof of vaccination by their fourth day of employment.

Vaccine validation process on campus

HR/Academic Partners and I-9 coordinators visually inspect proof of full COVID-19 vaccination for employees in their assigned supervisory organizations. Individuals in these roles should review the COVID-19 Access and Use Agreement to understand responsibilities in reviewing proof of vaccination, which is a sensitive medical record. Vaccination information is considered confidential medical information under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and is exempted from disclosure from the Public Records Act.

Vaccine validation process at UW Medicine

Medical centers staff and School of Medicine employees (including RFPU), whose vaccination status has been verified through the UW Medicine process will not need to go through a separate visual verification process within the department.

Proof of vaccination and verification

HR/Academic Partners and I-9 coordinators must visually observe proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 and may do so either in-person or virtually (e.g., over Zoom), but they should not:

  • Request or keep a copy of the vaccination card or details of the employee’s vaccination.
  • Upload copies of vaccination cards into Workday or any other system.
  • Share or use employee vaccination information for any purpose other than ensuring compliance with the proclamation.
  • Maintain separate tools to track compliance with this requirement.
  • Ask other staff to perform verifications or make Workday validation entries.

Acceptable proof of full vaccination includes:

Both sides of the document should be observed when verifying vaccination. Personal attestation is not an acceptable form of verification of COVID-19 vaccination. Examples of valid proof of COVID-19 vaccination are provided in the Department of Health Visual Guide to Official Washington State Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination.

Evaluating documentation

While there are multiple types of acceptable documents, full vaccination is best supported by records that have the employee name, date(s) and locations vaccines were given, and the name of the vaccine. Records also likely include other information such as vaccine batch number.

Consider looking for the following when observing vaccine records:

  • Standard information: Does the record include at minimum the employee name, date(s) and location(s) vaccines were given, and the name of the vaccine?
  • Accurate information: Is the employee’s name, the location of the vaccine, names of organizations and institutions (such as the CDC, WA Department of Health, or local hospitals and pharmacies), and the name of the vaccine spelled correctly?
  • Consistent information: If the employee previously attested to vaccination, does the vaccine record match information proved in the Workday attestation?
  • Readable information: For items that appear to be photographs or photocopies, is all of the expected information included and is it readable?

It is unlawful to submit fraudulent proof of full COVID-19 vaccination. Any employee found to have submitted false or inaccurate information will be subject to corrective or disciplinary action, including, but not limited to, termination from University employment.

Documentation in other languages

To verify vaccine records presented in other languages, an app such as Google Lens for your smartphone may be able to translate text.

  1. On your phone, open the Google Lens app and tap Translate.
  2. If verifying vaccination status in-person, hover your phone over the vaccination record. If meeting virtually (e.g., via Zoom), ask the employee to hold their vaccination record up to their camera while you hold your phone up to your monitor and over the employee’s vaccine record. Note: Do not select the option to take a photo to translate as no copies of vaccine records should be made as part of this process.
  3. If the app is able to complete the translation, the text will appear in English in real-time on your phone’s screen.

Workday process

Upon confirmation of proof of vaccination, Academic/HR Partners and I-9 Coordinators should log in to Workday to update the COVID-19 Validation Form to indicate proof of full COVID-19 vaccination as described in the How-to instructions from the ISC.

To Review COVID-19 Vaccination Verification Status in Workday
  1. Log in to Workday from the link at the top of the ISC website (https://isc.uw.edu/) and search for the new hire name.
  2. In Workday, select the Cloud icon in the upper right corner, then select the View Profile button
  3. On the left side of the screen, select Job
  4. Under the COVID-19 Vaccinate Validation Form heading, review the Vaccination Validated? field:
    • If Yes appears: Vaccination has been validated in Workday
    • If No appears: Vaccination has not yet been verified in Workday

This process may only be completed if the hire has been completed; there is no function for new hires to staff and student employees that exists on the prehire.