For UNI education professor Theophile Muhayimana, it was about protecting himself and the campus community he’s a part of. For senior elementary education major Marisa Jane Bieschke, it was about keeping her students safe.
Whatever their reasons, more than 275 faculty, staff and students received the COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday in the West Gym during the first day of a mass vaccination clinic on campus. UNI staff helped each person complete their paperwork and then each individual went to one of seven vaccination stations, where a Allen College nursing student administered the vaccine and handed them their completed vaccination card.
It’s a quick and relatively painless process. Muhayimana’s smile was visible through his mask after receiving his dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Below is a press release from UNI: Starting (Tuesday the 13th), the University of Northern Iowa will begin administering doses of COVID-19 vaccine to students, faculty and staff who registered for one of four vaccination clinics in the West Gym. This week’s clinics will continue through Friday. .
With coronavirus vaccines starting to become more widely available, InsideUNI reached out to Student Health Clinic director Shelley O’Connell with some questions about what to expect when getting vaccinated.