Hamilton College held COVID-19 vaccine booster clinics for students, faculty and staff on Thursday, Feb. 3 and Thursday, Feb. 10 in the Filius Events Barn. Students could make an appointment through a link that was sent to their Hamilton email account and show up with their vaccination card in order to get the shot.
According to Director of College Events & Scheduling Lisa Magnarelli, 20 individuals received the booster on Feb. 3 and 21 individuals registered to receive the vaccine on Feb. 10. Hosting vaccine clinics is not new for the College. Director of Campus Safety Frank Coots is “very confident” that the College has provided many on-campus opportunities for students and staff members to receive the first and second dose of COVID vaccines during previous semesters.
An email from the COVID-19 Task Force on Wednesday, Jan. 5 outlined the COVID-19 procedures the campus community would need to follow throughout the Spring 2022 semester. The email cites vaccines as the “best defense against COVID-19,” and reveals that COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots are required for every individual who is either studying or working on campus. Students, faculty and staff were directed to receive the booster by Jan. 15, 2022 or within 30 days of the day they become eligible to receive the vaccine. Those who originally received the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines are eligible to receive the booster five months after receiving their second vaccination, while those who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are eligible for the booster two months after receiving the shot.
Coots acknowledged that the College’s vaccine mandate was an inspiration for the booster clinics. “Since we’re requiring [the booster], let’s try and make it as stressless as possible for everyone… if [the College] makes decisions that are going to be negative to any individual, whether it’s a student or employee, they want to ensure they have done everything they possibly can to get those booster shots into the arms of everybody that needs it,” explained Coots. An email from the campus COVID-19 Task Force on Feb. 1 asked students, faculty and staff to “note that the College will take steps to enforce the mandate for anyone who is not in full compliance after Feb. 10.”
Coots is a member of COVAC, the Central Oneida County Volunteer Ambulance Corp, and worked with the organization, including Chief of COCVAC Thomas Meyers, and Magnarelli to coordinate the booster clinics. Coots “initially reached out to COCVAC to see if this is something we could do and [Meyers] said ‘no question about it, we can do this.’” Coots explained this was also an “opportunity to… let the students, faculty and staff interact with the COCVAC personnel,” which he sees as a positive impact for the community.
According to Coots, there was no financial cost to hosting the booster clinic. “It cost us no money, maybe a little bit of time and effort to organize.” They planned to host the clinics on the same day of the week as COVID-19 surveillance testing that it would be convenient for people to get tested and boosted at the same time.
“We wanted it on a day where testing was taking place because then the community was naturally going through the building anyways, so they had one more step for anybody that wanted the booster; it was right there,” said Coots.
Regardless of whether students receive their booster on- or off-campus, the College and Health Center ask that students upload their updated vaccination record to the Student Health Portal as soon as possible.
