SUNY Brockport Teams with Monroe County, Wegmans to Host Re-Scheduled Vaccination Clinic
Just over an hour before SUNY Brockport nursing students were set to host a clinic to vaccinate their classmates last Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration and Center for Disease recommended pausing distribution of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine they were set to distribute.
SUNY, out of an abundance of caution, immediately halted the distribution of the vaccine – meaning Brockport’s clinic was paused indefinitely.
Organizers sought alternatives. First, they needed to secure a different vaccine. The Monroe County Department of health was eager to help, offering the campus a supply of Pfizer’s vaccine. But distributing it would present a challenge. The Pfizer vaccine is more complicated than Johnson & Johnson’s. It would require a trained professional to appropriately reconstitute the doses. Further, the nursing students who were planning to administer the vaccine wouldn’t be available to administer the second Pfizer shot due to conflicts with their academic schedule.
SUNY Brockport reached out to the Brockport Wegmans Pharmacy to see if they would be able to offer any assistance. Wegmans readily agreed.
Wegmans provided a pharmacist to reconstitute the Pfizer vaccine at SUNY Brockport’s vaccination clinics. First doses were distributed April 20 by Brockport nursing students, and they will distribute a second round on April 22. When those individuals return for their second shot – a team from Wegmans will be administering it on the SUNY Brockport campus.
“We are incredibly grateful to the Monroe County Department of Public Health and our friends at the Brockport Wegmans for partnering with us to vaccinate our students,” said Macpherson. “While many who were scheduled to receive their vaccination from us last week were able to secure appointments elsewhere, many other students lacked the necessary transportation to do so. We would not have been able to vaccinate them on campus without the support of these tremendous community partners.”
Wegmans was eager to contribute to the effort.
“Everything we’re doing around the COVID-19 vaccination effort is being done with the goal of helping our communities and achieving herd immunity,” said Lindsey Csati, Brockport pharmacy area manager. “We know how important it is for students to get vaccinated prior to leaving campus, and we’re excited for the opportunity to play a role in that effort here in Brockport.”