Alexandra Scicchitano — opinions & Features Editor
The Wellness Center paired up with Shop Rite on Dixwell Avenue to get students vaccines on campus, without having to go somewhere else to get them.
Flu vaccines were given out to faculty and students if they brought their prescription card and insurance card, said John McCarthy, the pharmacist manager from Shop Rite on Dixwell Avenue.
“End of August, mid-August, to the end of August we get [the vaccines] in. The best time to get your flu shot is the end of September, October, November, before the end of November.
but we do continue to administer December, January,” said McCarthy.
“We can still do the vaccine, which is why we still ask for both cards, [so we can] minimize the number of people that we turn away,” said McCarthy about turning down people who have
United Healthcare, a healthcare that does not cover the vaccine. “It’s usually two or three percent. It’s a very small percentage of the insurance we can’t take.”
McCarthy said students whose health insurance does not cover the vaccine, cannot pay out of
pocket for. This is an agreement Shop Rite and the university had so there is no physical money being taken.
However, McCarthy said he advises students and faculty whose healthcare has been turned down to go to Shop Rite where they can pay for the vaccine, for about $23 with a discount card.
“We strongly recommend you vaccinate yourself before you hit that window where people are starting to get sick because it does take two weeks to take effect,” said McCarthy.
Nursing professor, Antionette Towle said she thinks people on campus should take advantage of the opportunity “because it’s right here, it’s
easy,” otherwise they would have to go somewhere else. “I usually get it here. I have to get them, by law, because hospitals won’t let us in,” said Towle, who got her flu vaccine that day. “My clinical group is at Milford Hospital.”
Towle said all her students who go to Milford Hospital need to get vaccinated too.
“I get it every year, but it’s great that they had it at work, it’s convenient,” said Marisol LopezCastro, a secretary for the economic and finance , who said she has gotten the shot on campus for the past few years it has been offered.
“They don’t have to go to the doctors to get it done,” said Lopez-Castro. “It’s a lot easier.”
Photo credit: Izzy Manzo
