About 100 Texas Southmost College students received their first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in a clinic Thursday morning at the ITECC Campus on Mexico Boulevard.
It was TSC’s first mass vaccination effort. After students arrived for their time slots from 9-11 a.m., some doses were administered on a walk-up basis, officials said.
Student volunteers helped administer the vaccines, among them EMS students under observation by a preceptor, Scott Nelson, program director of Emergency Medical Science, said.
EMS students are required to see patients as part of their training, and the clinic gave volunteers the opportunity to improve their hands-on skills, he said.
Nursing students were also part of the effort, including seniors Christopher Gonzalez, Crystal Palacios and Denise Garza. All three said coming out and volunteering for the event was an important way of giving back to the community. Gonzalez added that screening for the actual shots-in-the-arms part of the event seemed well organized.
Andrew Castillo, a freshman working on his basics, said he found out about the clinic from his aunt, Marisol Jimenez, who works in the financial aid office. He was out with friends when he learned vaccines would be available for TSC students and signed up right away, knowing the importance of getting vaccinated.
Jimenez said being vaccinated would make it easier going back to work in an office setting.
Marcella Juarez, a TSC volunteer, said she personally had already received both doses of the vaccine.
“It’s important to get this population vaccinated if we want to go back to school in the future,” she said.
