Iowa State University to Begin Mass Vaccination Immediately

Iowa State University (ISU) aims to vaccinate as many of its students as possible against the COVID-19 virus before this semester ends and during the mass vaccination that starts on April 19.

The university made the announcement two weeks after the infection rates for COVID-19 increased, recording twice the number of infections compared to the beginning of the spring semester, Erudera.com reports.

According to ISU President Wendy Wintersteen and the university’s leader of student health, Erin Baldwin, the mass vaccination represents “a significant step toward our goal of returning to a vibrant campus experience this fall.”

The university is planning for a full capacity comeback for the fall semester, aiming towards a before the COVID-19 pandemic situation. The decision of whether returning students should wear face coverings will be determined in August.

ISU is set to receive its vaccines for the mass inoculation on the campus clinics starting on April 19, which is predicted to last two weeks. Wintersteen and Baldwin stated that the university is working with Governor Kim Reynolds’s office to increase vaccine availability. All Iowa residents who are 16 years and older are eligible for the vaccine, starting April 5.

Cohorts prioritized for the first dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine are undergraduate, graduate, professional, and residential or non-residential students. They will be notified in advance about the procedure of signing up for vaccination by the Health Center.

ISU is expected to ask employees “to provide non-clinical staffing support” at the campus vaccination clinics. As more vaccines are to be available, inoculation will be extended to more staff, faculty, and postdocs. Until then, these people are advised to get vaccinated with any authorized vaccine providers

Previously, the University of Tennessee in Knoxville started its mass vaccination program at campus clinics, with around 200 people being inoculated with the Moderna vaccine daily. UT started with around 1,100 available appointments with the purpose of giving a couple of thousands of shots every week. As of the moment, UT has given over 8,000 shots at their campus clinics.

The University of Huston, in partnership with Walgreens, a pharmaceutical company, has also started the mass vaccination in Texas by giving the Moderna shots to almost 1,100 faculty members. These doses were provided by the Texas Department of State Health Services to be used by the beginning of March. Walgreens has been one of the leading providers by supplying over four million vaccinations across the country.