URBANA â Since the University of Illinois began using its saliva COVID-19 test in July, workers have been collecting test tubes full of spit at more than 15 locations across campus, transporting them to the Veterinary Diagnostic Lab where they processed more than a million results.
Now those workers are among the first to get vaccinated by the UI.
âClinical test site workers are classified by IDPH as 1A.5 and are therefore a priority,â McKinley Health Center Director Robert Parker said.
The test site workers have been offered the vaccine, though Parker wasnât sure how many are receiving it.
But âthrough yesterday, McKinley had provided 321 vaccines in total to all the 1A subgroups,â Parker said Wednesday.
URBANA â Since the University of Illinois began using its saliva COVID-19 test in July, workers have been collecting test tubes full of spit at more than 15 locations across campus, transporting them to the Veterinary Diagnostic Lab where they processed more than a million results.
Now those workers are among the first to get vaccinated by the UI.
âClinical test site workers are classified by IDPH as 1A.5 and are therefore a priority,â McKinley Health Center Director Robert Parker said.
The test site workers have been offered the vaccine, though Parker wasnât sure how many are receiving it.
But âthrough yesterday, McKinley had provided 321 vaccines in total to all the 1A subgroups,â Parker said Wednesday.
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University of Illinois meningitis deaths: Another time when mass vaccinations were needed
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CHICAGO (WLS) Nearly 30 years ago, the death of a University of Illinois student from bacterial meningitis scared the campus community.
The year was 1991 - decades before COVID. At U of I there was a different threat, a threat that killed a second Illini student within days from meningitis disease.
As fear turned to frenzy, university officials huddled with the Centers for Disease Control on how to handle the health crisis. They struggled with whether they should quarantine the campus, send students home, or vaccinate. After the second student died, it became very real, and that was my second semester of my freshman year in 1991, Andrea Darlas, Senior Director of Constituent Engagement at the University of Illinois told the I-Team.