After a few hiccups, SUNY Brockport was finally able to hold a vaccination clinic for students.
On April 20 and 22, students who made appointments showed up to the ice arena at the SERC where to receive their first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Originally the college planned to have the clinics a week earlier, and were offering students the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Just hours before the first clinic was set to begin and 300 students were set to get their shot, the CDC and FDA released a joint statement advising a pause on administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States. They said this was a choice made out of an “abundance of caution” after 6 out of 6.8 million people suffered blood clots after receiving the vaccine. After that statement was released the college announced their decision to cancel the clinics.
Organizers and college officials worked quickly to find other alternatives. The Monroe County Department of Health teamed up with the school and offered a supply of Pfizer vaccines. Brockport Wegmans pharmacy agreed to help with the clinic.
200 students received their first dose at the clinic and will be able to get their second shot in three weeks. Wegmans will assist with operations again.
SUNY Brockport President Heidi Macpherson said in a statement:
“We are incredibly grateful to the Monroe County Department of Public Health and our friends at the Brockport Wegmans for partnering with us to vaccinate our students. While many who were scheduled to receive their vaccination from us last week were able to secure appointments elsewhere, many other students lacked the transportation to do so. We would not have been able to vaccinate them on campus without the support of these tremendous community partners.”
The FDA and CDC lifted the recommended pause on Johnson & Johnson vaccinations on April 23 after a safety review was completed, saying that the benefits outweigh the risks.
Janie Denis, a nursing instructor at SUNY Brockport says she recommends that students get vaccinated if they can.
“I myself got the Moderna vaccine, I’ve gotten both doses. I do obviously recommend, I’m a nurse, so I kind of have this instinctual need to tell people to get out there, get the vaccine, get protected, protect yourself and protect those who you come in contact with,” said Denis. “It’s very, very normal to be scared, to be hesitant, so I say go to the CDC website, educate yourself on the risks for the vaccine but also your risk for COVID. And those risks, in my professional opinion, are greater than the risks of getting that vaccine.”
