AU Nursing Students to Host Vaccination Clinic for Campus Community

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Anderson, Ind. — Anderson University has received authorization from the Madison County Health Department to host a COVID-19 vaccination clinic for its campus community. The Madison County Health Department will be bringing the supplies and vaccines to AU’s campus on April 1, and School of Nursing students will administer the Moderna vaccine to faculty, staff, and students. The second vaccine will be offered on campus on April 29, prior to summer break.

One of the university’s top priorities is to offer students real-life, hands-on, experiential learning opportunities. The pandemic has challenged some of these opportunities, but AU’s #1 ranked nursing program has utilized this time to rethink the classroom and clinical setting. AU nursing students have been found on the frontlines on and off campus working testing sites and monitoring quarantine processes to the community around them. Now, just nearly a year after AU announced its initial closure, students are administering the vaccine. The vaccine isn’t mandatory or required for employees or students, but simply encouraged. 

Christina Williams ’22 is a junior in the nursing program at Anderson University who will be volunteering at the vaccine clinic on April 1. “The experiential learning I have been able to encounter the past two semesters has been such an incredible opportunity,” she sad. “I had the chance to volunteer at two testing clinics, as well as administer Moderna vaccines at the Madison County Health Department. The clinical experiences I have been able to be a part of during this pandemic have been a highlight of my time within the Anderson University School of Nursing.” 

“Vaccinations are the strongest tool we have in building herd immunity on our campus as we move to more in-person opportunities as a community,” said Dr. Sarah Neal, nursing professor and head of AU’s COVID-19 task force. “This is such a special moment in time to ‘love your neighbor,’ because being vaccinated reaches so much farther than the individual receiving the vaccine. You are a part of the ripple effect. It is an action that serves friends, family, and countless others you haven’t even met who are at a higher risk.”

Anderson University is on a mission to educate students for lives of faith and service, offering more than 60 undergraduate majors, 30 three-year degrees, 20 NCAA Division III intercollegiate sports, alongside adult and graduate programs. The private, liberal arts institution is fully accredited and recognized among top colleges for its business, computer science, cybersecurity, dance, engineering, nursing, and teacher education programs. Anderson University was established in 1917 in Anderson, Indiana, by the Church of God.