By Gianna Holiday
On Thursday, March 25, App State hosted their second vaccine clinic for students, faculty, staff and community members.
“We are so pleased to be a part of the public health vaccine distribution process and proud to help in efforts to make the COVID-19 vaccines more accessible and our campus and community safer for everyone,” said Chancellor Everts.
App State’s coronavirus dashboard now includes weekly totals for the vaccines administered at App State’s vaccine clinics.
This past week, App State conducted 1,110 COVID-19 tests and surpassed a landmark 50,000 on-campus COVID-19 tests.
This week, App State’s numbers show 21 positive results, or 1.9%, a positivity rate significantly lower than the state’s latest reported rate of 4%.
The university’s COVID-19 dashboard will be updated Monday with weekly data, which will include Saturday’s testing data.
“I encourage every Mountaineer to get vaccinated when the time comes and help bring the Appalachian Community closer to returning to the in-person working and learning environments we all miss,” Everts said.
App State originally hosted its first COVID-19 vaccine clinic March 11–12 at the Holmes Convocation Center, where the university’s M.S. Shook Student Health Service staff and Department of Nursing students administered 680 doses of the vaccine over the two-day period.
App State was approved to be a community vaccination distribution center by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
The university is assisting in North Carolina’s COVID-19 vaccination distribution plan for rural areas by administering COVID-19 vaccines to staff, faculty, students and community members.
Laurareligh Guthrie is an App State student. She is a senior dietetics major and lives off-campus.
“The process to register for the vaccine was very easy. I received an email through AppState, and signed up for a time slot at my convenience. I was eligible for the vaccine due to working for the school at the on campus gyms,” said Gunthrie. “After I was given the shot, I was moved to a seating area and waited my allotted time to ensure I didn’t have a reaction.’
She said the process was simple and organized and only wished she had known the severity of the side effects.
According to Jason Marshburn, director of App State’s Department of Environmental Health, Safety, and Emergency Management, clinics will be held at the university each week, as long as there is a need and a supply of vaccine allotments provided by the state.
“We are also busily planning for the upcoming fall semester, which, as I announced on Feb. 5, we expect to look more like fall 2019, provided vaccine distribution continues to go well and people remain vigilant,” said Everts.
App State is following the state’s prioritization system. Students, faculty, staff and community members who are eligible can register to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at a local vaccine distribution clinic.