The Student Health Center will offer the swine flu vaccine to students in mid-November, according to SHC Director Dan Bruey.
The D.C. Department of Health planned to send doses of the vaccine to AU in October, but the supply was delayed. The vaccine is now expected to arrive on campus the week of Nov. 9 or 16, Bruey said.
The Health Center has not yet determined where the vaccine will be administered on campus; the location will depend on how many vaccines it receives from the D.C. Department of Health.
| JORDAN COUGHENOUR / THE EAGLE |
Although the vaccine is already offered in various locations throughout the D.C. area, many of these clinics are experiencing high demand for a limited supply of vaccines, leading to long lines. Wilson Senior High School, located near the Tenleytown Metro station, offered the vaccine on Oct. 24. The resulting line of people waiting for their dose stretched well past the high school campus and towards the AU shuttle stop.
Kate Nazareth, a sophomore in the School of International Service, volunteered at a Northeast D.C. high school that offered the vaccine.
“We weren’t going to deny people the vaccines,” she said. “But they were going to have to wait.”
Bruey is unsure of how long supplies of the vaccine would last.
“It’s hard to say,” he said. “18- to 24- [year-olds] are one of our priority groups, and that’s most of the students on campus,” he said.
After the SHC receives the initial shipment of the vaccine, the Department of Health will continue to send weekly doses to AU until February. If students who want to be vaccinated do not get the shot within the first week, they will have an opportunity to get it the following week.
Some students are planning to get the vaccine as quickly as possible.
“The sooner, the better. It’s always about to strike; there are so many people getting sick,” said Therese Quiao, a senior in the School of Communication. “A lot of people know who’s gotten it and can say they know someone who has it.”
If supplies run out, students can also get the vaccine off campus. Health workers at Wilson Senior High School will administer the vaccine to “all [Centers for Disease Control] priority groups” on Nov. 3, according to The Washington Post. These priority groups include people “between the ages of 6 months and 24 years old,” among others listed on CDC’s Web site.
You can reach this staff writer at scarignan@theeagleonline.com.
