OCU has hosted several vaccination clinics to protect the community and continues to adjust as the pandemic goes on.
Levi Harrel, dean of students, said he is proud of how quickly and efficiently the university has planned these vaccination events, which have occurred weekly on Fridays in the Henry J. Freede Wellness and Activity Center.
“Seeing that we have had six vaccination clinics so far and still have four planned, I think we’re in good shape,” Harrel said. “By the end of this semester, we will have hosted 10 here at OCU.”
Harrel said hosting these clinics has allowed for over 1,000 members of the OCU community to receive either the first or second dose of the vaccine. At this time, both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been administered. The vaccine type distributed at each clinic depends on the batch of received vaccines and which week campus members sign up for vaccination.
“By the end of that 10th clinic, we will have fully vaccinated over 1,500 members of our community,” Harrel said.
Harrel said since he is fully vaccinated, he would like to share with those hesitant to receive the vaccine that the process is short and relatively painless. He said it offers a greater opportunity to bring us together sooner.
“As we navigate our way to the end of this pandemic, the vaccine is the way to do that, and the more folks that receive the vaccine, the more folks can remain healthy and the more likely we are to return to some semblance of normalcy,” Harrel said
The Emergency Operations Center has been meeting to examine how COVID-19 safety protocols will be changed, dropped or shifted for the fall 2021 semester.
“The EOC has been working hard. We are truly examining every process that has been affected by the mitigation standards,” Harrel said. “We are hopeful that we will return to a more-normal semester.”
OCU has reached zero active cases several times throughout the semester and is currently at the moderate COVID-19 alert level.
“The reason we’ve been so successful is multi-leveled,” Harrel said. “The mitigation standards, masking, events but mostly community adherence. The policies are great, but our students are actually taking this seriously. They are not protecting just their own health, but the health of others as well.”
Harrel said he hopes to see as many OCU community members vaccinated as possible within the upcoming months. He said the more folks are vaccinated, the lower the chance of transmission will be on campus.
Collin Ellsbury, music theater/vocal performance/political science sophomore, said he is hopeful conditions will only improve from here. He said he appreciates the way the university has managed reported cases and notes how impressive it is the school continues to run relatively smoothly despite the COVID protocols.
“I think especially when we consider that other universities were closing around October and November of last year while we got to go on having in-person classes, OCU has done a pretty good job in making sure students are masked and socially distant,” he said.
Ellsbury said he doesn’t know how much protocols might change for the current semester, but he said he hopes students are taking advantage of the vaccination clinics.
“My hope is that the university requires the vaccine for students and faculty in the fall,” Ellsbury said.
Students can sign up for a vaccination clinic via emails from the OCU Communications Office.
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