Ohio University’s regional campuses do not currently have university-run vaccination clinics, but students are encouraged to find local clinics or come to the main campus to get vaccinated.
On April 1, Gov. Mike DeWine announced that college students will be eligible for vaccination. Following this, vaccines became available starting April 7 at Heritage Hall, 191 W. Union St. Through the month of April, appointments are available for all OU students.
“Our public health operations team is currently working with OHIO’s regional campuses to promote local opportunities for vaccine,” Gillian Ice, special assistant to the president for public health operations, said in an email. “In most cases, the health departments have sufficient doses to accommodate (vaccination).”
In order to encourage students to get the vaccine, the Southern campus has been communicating information over several platforms.
“We are promoting all opportunities to our students through email and social media,” Dean Nicole Pennington said in an email. “We are grateful for the partnerships that we have to ensure that all of our students can get vaccinated as soon as possible.”
The Chillicothe campus has a mass vaccination site through the Ross County Health District, which is offering the Pfizer vaccine, Regional Campus Coordinator B. Kreig Prior said. Previous to the pause of Johnson & Johnson vaccine distribution, OU students were able to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine through a clinic partnership with Adena.
Anthony Mirisola, a sophomore studying communication studies on the Chillicothe campus, already received the vaccine before any information from the university came out.
“I put myself on a no-waste list…they contacted me because this was during the period where it was only available to older people,” Mirisola said. “I got my first shot in late March and then I just got my second shot last week.”
Mirisola was able to access the no-waste list through the Ross County Health Department facility on the Chillicothe regional campus. Although he’s seen posts on social media about the coronavirus vaccines being available through OU, Mirisola doesn’t know anyone who’s gotten the vaccine that way.
“I expected the university to come out with something, but since they have to deal with so many students, I didn't really know when,” Mirisola said. “Since (the health department) called me to ask me if I wanted it, I just kind of said, ‘yeah.’ I wasn't really waiting for the university to give it out.”
Similar to Mirisola, Brookelyn Martin, a junior studying middle childhood education on the Zanesville campus, also received her vaccine before OU started offering appointments. She got hers last week from a Zanesville hospital.
“I probably wouldn't want to drive down to Athens. It's a pretty good drive from here,” Martin said. “I don't know anyone that is considering going to Athens. I know some people already have appointments.”
Anna Justice, a junior studying communication studies on the Chillicothe campus, has not received the vaccine yet, but was unaware that OU was offering it to all students.
“Next week I'm planning on going to get it…I'm probably going to go to call our local pharmacy and see if we have any open appointments there,” Justice said. “They've sent us a lot of emails, but now I had no idea it was on the Athens campus at all…I read the newsletters every week, but no, I didn't hear about that.”
