Today: Mar 28, 2024

SGA discusses COVID-19 vaccines on campus

Caitlin O’HalloranReporter

The Student Government Association (SGA) held their annual Friday meetings with one of the main topics being the COVID-19 vaccine being distributed on campus.  

SGA had a guest speaker at this meeting, Residence Life Covid Coordinator Erin Duff.  

 “We want as many students as possible to vaccinated so that we can go towards a somewhat normal – get back to some normalcy, whatever that may look like for the fall semester,” said Duff.  

Duff noted that there are some reservations on campus surrounding the vaccine and that she is working with her graduate intern, Leslie Garcia, as well as other faculty and other campus partners to provide a program to educate campus community regarding the COVID vaccine.  

“We’ve also, last week and the week before, been trying to get students to get vaccinated or schedule their appointments,” said Duff. “And so, just educating people on how to schedule.”  

Duff noted that there will be more information provided about when the vaccine will be available on campus and other parts of the community for students to sign up for their slot at getting the vaccine, hopefully in the very near future.  

After, they discussed the interest of distribution of congratulatory t-shirts to those who got vaccinated and as a value and incentive for students.  

Upon this matter, sociology major Andreina Barajas, a freshman, asked about the way they would be able to provide comfort to multicultural organizations because “I do see a lot of People of Color seem to be skeptical about the vaccine and I think there is a lot of historical context to that.”  

Similarly, political science and philosophy major Asma Rahimyar wanted there to be outreach to the multicultural center with regards to this campaign “and if there is a way that we haven’t thus far, if we can bring them into these efforts about disseminating what this campaign is about and then hopefully getting t-shirts to students that have gotten vaccinated.” 

Duff responded that they are working on “providing comfort, gaining back trust, educating,” as well as having conversations with family and how to go about those conversations.  

As for the budget for the T-shirts, it will not be provided by the COVID budget as it isn’t necessarily a situation in need of emergency funding but will continue looking for collaborations for funding. 

The estimated amount for the T-shirt funding is around $3,150. 

Another idea presented by Kyle Thaxton was to distribute a type of pamphlet, including information about how and where to get a shot and information regarding the vaccine that students on campus would need to know about.  

“I just wanted to stress how important I think it is to get vaccinated for people that are on campus a lot of the time, just because you are going into a community that is underrepresented that is mostly People of Color, so I’m talking about New Haven in general,” said political science and economics major Michelle Morales, a sophomore. “I think it’s a privilege to be on campus right now so I feel like the least our students can do is protect the community that actually houses us and that is our campus.”  

An easier way for students and the campus community to be able to travel to receive their vaccines and ways it can be an easier process for those who aren’t able to travel to far destinations to get their shots was also discussed.   

After these discussions, the President’s Report by Sarah Gossman, Vice President’s Report by Madison Miceli, Secretary Report by Samantha Widomski was discussed regarding inner information of SGA.  

“I think that it is very important for us to be encouraging the vaccine especially for those who are on campus mostly,” said SGA President and history 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Latest from Blog

Don't Miss

Football team wins second game in a row

Ben Martin – Sports Writer The university football team is took on the

My Mind & Me Documentary starts up conversations 

Sarah Shelton – Photo Editor  One of the biggest role models in my