Donovan Wilson – Reporter
Vaccines became avail-able to all adults April 1. This availability has already impacted campus.
“The process has since changed, now allowing you to choose which vaccine you want,” said English professor Timo-thy Parrish.
Parrish was vaccinat-ed through Yale and has received both of his shots as of this past Monday. He described the process as simple and was vac-cinated only two weeks after the day he signed up, making for a quick turn-around time considering the high demand.
Parrish said, “It rivaled any vaccination I’ve ever gotten.” While he does endorse the shot, Parrish also mentioned the side effects people may experience. Parrish experienced a sore arm and the pain went all the way up to his neck. He also experienced a runny nose, fatigue and headache on the day of his shot and has antici-pated it to be worse with his second shot.
“I was anxious to get a shot, primarily because of my family and certainly the statistics are favora-ble so I went online and signed up,” said President Joe Bertolino.
His experience was a little different than that of Parrish’s, as he signed up early and had a sizable wait. Things are much easier and accessible now as the vaccine becomes very widely available and you can even now choose which vaccine to get. Bertolino did not have this luxury, and was given whichever vaccine they chose for him.
His first vaccine ended up being the Pfizer vaccine. Patients can now choose from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson, according to Parrish. Bertolino said, “By the start of May, I should be good to go.”
President Joe received his first shot on March 28th and due to the three week wait in between doses that all patients will receive, will get his second and final dose on April 18. This shot will then take about two weeks to take full effect, making the whole process, from sign up to fully vaccinat-ed, about 7 weeks or a month and a half.
Due to the process being quick and easy in addition to safe, Bertolino is recommending all students who have the ability to get the vaccine do get vaccinated. According to Connecticut’s official state website, “Connecticut’s vaccination program will open to the final group of adults —all individuals between the ages of 16 and 44—on Thursday, April 1. Indi-viduals within that age group will be eligible to schedule appointments starting on that date.”
The state itself has shifted focus to vaccinat-ing all groups of adults over the age of 16, some-what placing a spotlight on college students, ac-cording to Bertolino. Due to this, the school is now exploring options on having their very own vaccination clinic which would aim not only to vaccinate members of the campus such as students, staff and faculty but also include members of the surrounding community.
All of this is currently up in the air and not at all set in stone but President Joe describes it as “an oppor-tunity to jump on” if the chance arises. According to Connect-icut’s official state web-site, “Connecticut is the first state in the nation to receive one of FEMA’s newly created mobile vaccination units, which will help the state in its ongoing efforts to bring the COVID-19 vaccine to people who live within socially vulnerable neigh-borhoods.” These FEMA units will be available in 17 differ-ent towns including the university’s home of New Haven.
