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The University of Mississippi has prepared the Tad Smith Coliseum to be the site of its vaccine distribution as soon as doses are delivered. Photo by Katherine Butler.
Though the University of Mississippi vaccine task force hopes the university will receive its COVID-19 vaccinations sometime in mid-February, six other universities in the Southeastern Conference have already begun immunizing their staffs and students with pre-existing conditions.
To distribute the vaccine, UM plans to utilize the structure of Operation Immunization, the School of Pharmacy’s annual provision of flu shots to the university community. The vaccine administration team that distributed the flu shots has undergone additional training to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, and Provost Noel Wilkin said it is a team in which he is “extremely confident.”
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Provost Noel Wilkin said on Monday that “vaccinating our community is the fastest path back to normal” as he encouraged students to get the COVID-19 vaccine, but the university will not require the UM community to schedule appointments for vaccines.
“We know that the path to normal is through vaccination,” Wilkin said. “So if the vaccine is not gotten by the number of people who need to get it in order for us to have comfort and relax the protocols we’ll just continue to modify operations with the protocols.”
Wilkin was accompanied at an information panel by Dr. Lauren Bloodworth, a clinical associate professor of pharmacy practice; Alex Langhart, the director of University Health Centers; and Dr. Hubert Spears, a staff physician at the Employee Health Center, to discuss the university’s vaccine rollout plan.
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The University of Mississippi has been prepared to distribute COVID-19 vaccinations within a moment’s notice for weeks.
Socially-distanced tables and chairs fill the Tad Smith Coliseum, organizing the circular building into stations through which patients will rotate counter-clockwise. General medical supplies are stocked, and security guards are on call. According to students who have begun training, approximately 180 UM pharmacy students will be assisting licensed pharmacists in administering the vaccine.
Once vaccine doses arrive at the university, they will be administered by pharmacy students. Photo by Katherine Butler.
The only thing missing from the university’s vaccination distribution plan is actual doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
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While dates that the university will be able to begin vaccinating its students, faculty and staff remain uncertain, the University of Mississippi Vaccine Distribution and Administration Task Force announced on Friday that it is prepared to launch a campuswide vaccination program “as soon as shipments are available.”
According to an email from the University of Mississippi Communications, the task force is working with the Mississippi State Department of Health to obtain doses of a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible.
“I am extremely confident in our vaccine administration team,” Provost Noel Wilkin said. “They have been administering vaccines on our campus for about a decade and conduct Operation Immunization each year for influenza vaccines.”