In preparation for students returning to campus, a group of faculty, staff and students at Brigham Young University are working together to hold off-campus vaccination clinics.
BYU has been offering morning vaccination clinics at their student health center, but political science professor Jessica Preece said this option doesn’t work for all students.
“We're working on the philosophy that there are a lot of students that aren't opposed to getting vaccinated, but they don't have cars to get to the locations or they're busy, or their schedules make it difficult to, you know, to go to the student health clinic that the vaccines are in the morning," Preece said. "And so what we're trying to do is make it as easy and fun as possible for students to get vaccinated.”
Preece is part of the group organizing off-campus vaccine clinics targeting students in Provo. The first clinic is on Thursday at Slab Pizza from 4 to 6 p.m. All of the students who come get vaccinated will get a $5 gift card and be entered into a drawing for a $100 Amazon gift card.
There’s incentives for students who are already vaccinated too.
“If you're already vaccinated, you can bring an unvaccinated friend and then both of you will be entered into the drawing," Preece said. "Because we're hearing that some students are like, Oh, man, I should have waited to get vaccinated when I could have gotten free pizza.”
Preece said it's important for students to be vaccinated so they are protected against COVID and because it’s an important service to the broader community.
“Those of us that are working on this really wanted to see things happening this summer with the students who are on campus or around working," Preece said. "And to really try and get as much of this taken care of before everyone starts arriving and spreading it in the fall.”
Two more clinics are planned in the coming weeks. On Tuesday, students can get vaccinated at Campus Way Apartments and on Wednesday, there will be a clinic at Alpine Village, both from 2 to 6 p.m.
