COPers volunteer at drive-through flu shot clinic

About a dozen COPers volunteered along with other health sciences members at a drive-through flu shot clinic Saturday.

The clinic, which took place on Second Street east of Park Avenue, allowed students and employees to receive a shot without ever having to leave their cars.

The event was put on by Campus Health Services in conjunction with the UA Campus Emergency Response Team. Aside from providing vaccinations, the event also helped administrators test an emergency response plan in case of an outbreak or pandemic.

“It was done in a very efficient, quick manner, and we learned a lot in terms of how to stage future drive-through clinics and what we describe as PODs (points of dispensing),” says Associate Dean Theodore Tong. “It could be vaccines, antiviral medications, it could be antibiotics, it could be anything. The question is, can we utilize a drive-through model? And from this experience, we were certainly able to show that we can.”

Students and employees from across the university, including UA President Robert Shelton (in photo), lined up in their cars and received the shots through the driver and passenger-side windows. The volunteers also manned a walk-up clinic for people without a car. According to Tong, about 500 doses of the vaccine were administered, and nobody was turned away.

“The results have been just outstanding,” says Tong. “I would say it was a tremendous success.”

Posted Oct. 5, 2009