Mass COVID Inoculation Program Presents Opportunities For Students

Jan. 10, 2021 4:20p

(WGTD)---If there's going to be a bottleneck in getting COVID-19 vaccine into arms in the WGTD listening area, it probably won't be because of a manpower shortage. 

Hundreds of nursing students are standing by to help with the task. 

At Gateway Technical College alone, some 500 nursing students and several dozen other students who are studying to become EMTs, paramedics and medical assistants are waiting in the wings, according to Vicki Hulback, Dean of the School of Health.

"It'll be a great experience for the students but it'll also be a huge help for those organizations that don't have the nursing staff to provide that large number of vaccinations," Hulback said.

Learning how to give vaccinations is one of the first things nursing students accomplish, she said. Because of the task at hand, students are getting more specific training, such as learning about the side effects of the drugs that are being administered.

Final details for getting students involved in the mass inoculation program have yet to be worked out, but Hulback notes Gateway already has long-standing arrangements with many area hospitals, clinics and health departments.

Nursing students from other schools are expected to participate as well.

Front-line health workers and nursing home residents are the first to receive the limited number of doses that Wisconsin has received. 

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