DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – Sunday morning, the University of Dayton partnered with Premier Health to get vaccines to nearly 1,000 UD students.
“The UD students at least really understand the importance of getting vaccinated so that we can get a return to normalcy in the fall for our classes. It’s really important to protect not only us but our parents grandparents aunts and uncles cousins,” said Katherine Cohnen, a junior pre-med major at UD.
This clinic provided the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to make things easier for college students who will be juggling finals and moving back home in four weeks and may find it hard to schedule a second vaccine dose.
The school also provided buses for students and welcomed walk-ins, all in an effort to remove barriers from students getting vaccinated.
Steve Burdette, Medical Director for Infection Control at Miami Valley Hospital says they are still seeing a high number of cases and hospitalizations from COVID, but the demographics have changed.
“In the hospital we are seeing mostly unvaccinated patients,” said Burdette. “Back in November and December, we had a very elderly population in the hospital and what we are seeing now is shifting to a much younger population.”
This is why medical leaders on campus and working so hard to get young adults vaccinated now that they are eligible.
Students like senior Alexandria Bennett said they were excited to get the vaccine to return to normal college life and pursuing their dreams.
“I feel like [COVID] kind of took away a little bit of my education which is really unfortunate but it did give me time with my family and my baby nephew,” said Bennett, a Communications major. “Hopefully now that people are getting vaccinated and that we have hope at the end of the tunnel I can get an in person internship.”
There are future plans in the works for another student focused vaccine clinic and details will be announced at a later date.
