After making the announcement that Seattle University students would be required to have the COVID-19 vaccine before returning to school in the fall, Seattle U has made an effort to help the community get vaccinated quickly. Seattle U partnered with Walmart to host a two-day vaccination clinic May 12-13.

Housing and Residence Life (HRL) sent an email to students informing them of the clinic offered in Campion Ballroom. The Student Health Center (SHC) encouraged students to register for an appointment online through their medical portal, but also accepted walk-ins for those that were unable to schedule an appointment. They also informed students of when their second dose would be, offering another clinic June 2-3 for those doses to be given. 

“We are asking students to schedule appointments to make physical distancing easier and minimize wait time, but we want you to have the opportunity to be vaccinated prior to travelling home for the summer. So just come during clinic hours and we will get you worked into the schedule,” Housing and Residence Life wrote in the email to students.

After Campion Ballroom hosted the Swedish vaccination clinic during the winter quarter, some students had concerns about their home being used as a vaccination site during a pandemic. However, the Walmart clinic hosted last week was a much smaller scale allowing it to be fully contained in the ballroom, limiting exposure to student residents. 

Director of the SHC, Tara Hicks, confirmed that there were never more than eight students in line with appointments every ten minutes, which helped reduce the number of people waiting in the lobby of Campion Hall. 

First-year biology student, Annalee Gorman is a resident of Campion. While she did not have any issues with the ballroom hosting the clinic in winter quarter or last week, Gorman is appreciative of the opportunity Seattle U is offering students to get vaccinated.

“I hope that this helps us get back to normal as I look forward to having a typical college experience next year,” Gorman said. “I am excited to finally meet my professors and classmates in person and to have a more personalized learning experience and to see more faces around campus.”

Once vaccine eligibility opened to ages 16 and older, Seattle U connected with Walmart who was able to run the clinic on campus. As Seattle U does not have the ability to administer vaccines, administrators still want to offer opportunities for students to easily access the vaccine.

“The university wanted to offer an on-campus vaccine clinic before the end of spring quarter for students,” Hicks said. “The next clinic is June 2-3 for dose two, but it will also be open for students who would like to start their vaccine series.”

Tim Albert, interim director of HRL, encourages students to get vaccinated to help the Seattle U community return to normal. 

“My hope for the clinic is that it would help more of our students be safe,” Albert said. “As we saw with the recent guidelines from the CDC, fully vaccinated persons may return to mostly normal activities. As more students and staff members at the University get vaccinated, we can start returning to some of our regular activities.”

Both Hicks and Albert mentioned that the two-day clinic was successful in vaccinating about 150 students as well as some faculty and staff with their first dose. For students unable to get their vaccine on campus, the SHC has a list of resources offering vaccines on their website. Once receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, be sure to register the vaccination status with Seattle U through the Safe Start Health check form.