在威尼斯人娱乐城，来自四所健康科学校区的学生一直忙于COVID-19疫苗接种工作，志愿服务数千小时。
医学院三年级学生尼基·塞拉吉（Nikki Seraji）说，她认识到护士和药剂师往往在实际接种疫苗的工作中首当其冲。 因此，当威尼斯人娱乐城医学院负责学习倡议的副院长斯蒂芬妮·埃里森（Stefanie Ellison）医学博士要求医科学生志愿者成为认证疫苗接种员时，塞拉吉欣然接受了这个机会。
“I’m studying the medical field and going to be doing this for a living and felt like I couldn’t help out enough,” she said. “When the opportunity to volunteer (as a vaccinator) came in in mid-January, I wanted to take advantage.”
埃里森说，从一年级到六年级的66名堪萨斯大学医学院学生已经接受了接种疫苗的培训和认证。 学生们每天在杜鲁门医疗中心位于大学卫生楼的COVID-19疫苗接种中心接种疫苗。 They’ve helped with the 药学院’s campus vaccine clinic, assisted in vaccination events at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, the Kansas City Zoo, Hallmark and the Missouri Cerner campus among other events and clinics.
At the school’s new St. Joseph Campus, Steve Waldman, M.D., campus dean, said all of his students have been certified as vaccinators and have given vaccines at the St. Joseph Mosaic Life Care vaccination center. 他说，许多人还参加了其他社区疫苗接种外展活动。
埃里森说，她每天都在努力与医学院合作，在堪萨斯城各地开展疫苗诊所和活动。
“Our students are so wonderful that when TMC has a busy day, I can email or text our students to help in a pinch and three to five students show up to help,” she said.
药学院的学生在课程的第二年接受了接种疫苗的培训和认证。 截至3月中旬，药学专业的学生和教师在全州36个活动中自愿提供了4400个小时的志愿服务，接种了17,500多剂疫苗。
药学三年级学生简·拜尔（Jane Beyer）说，她从去年12月开始帮助管理COVID疫苗。
“It is exciting that as student pharmacists we are able to get out there and really help the community and be part of the solution to COVID-19” she said. “It's a very rewarding feeling to be part of the vaccine efforts in Kansas City.”
医学院学生塞拉吉也有同样的想法，她承认自己在学习注射疫苗时有点焦虑。 在训练过她的护士的帮助下，她很快就适应了。 现在，只要上课时间允许，她每周至少自愿做一次疫苗接种员。
“I was definitely anxious when I was getting certified but I did maybe 20 or 30 (shots) the first time I was on my own and you get into a routine,” she said. “I’m trying to think how many that I’ve vaccinated. I don’t know but it’s definitely more than 80 or 90.”
在威尼斯人娱乐城健康科学校区的隔壁，当疫苗接种工作成为她临床轮转的一个选择时，护理专业的学生Ciera Ayala也参与了进来。 事实上，她已经参加了八次疫苗接种活动，其中大部分是在杜鲁门。
When she was vaccinated, Ayala said, she felt relief and “like there was a light at the end of the tunnel.” 现在，她很高兴与她接种的所有人分享这种感觉。
“I find it very gratifying,” Ayala said. “I got to be a part of history, and it felt really good to be a part of the efforts to end this pandemic. 当数百人排了好几个小时的队准备接种疫苗时，这也让人松了一口气，但也让人有点不知所措。 It makes me happy that people are trusting in science!”
Ayala doesn’t remember any particular vaccine recipients, but she said, “it just felt really good when people were appreciative of our efforts.
“Health care workers don’t often get the recognition that is deserved, so when people recognized how hard we were working, it felt amazing.”
来自牙科学院的119名三年级和四年级学生在4月初接受培训后，加强了学生接种员的队伍。 他们已经知道如何进行麻醉牙科病人所需的更复杂的注射，但必须学习更快的疫苗技术。
他们在护理与健康研究学院教师的帮助下，接受了牙科学院助理教授、医学博士、公共卫生学硕士梅根·温德兰（Meghan Wendland）的培训。 他们很快就加入了杜鲁门大学和威尼斯人娱乐城同学的活动。
One dental student, Tiara Fry, said she was “a little nervous” the first few times she gave the shot, “but once I got comfortable with it, it was great! It felt amazing to be a part of diminishing the spread of a virus during a pandemic.”
弗莱说，她同情那些持怀疑态度或害怕的人，但希望分享她接种疫苗后的解脱感。
“I knew it was for a great purpose to do my part in protecting myself and those around me,” she said. “I felt for those who were extremely afraid of needles. Many would tell me right before I gave the injection, so I tried my best to make them feel as comfortable as possible.”
拜尔说，参与疫苗工作使她成为朋友和家人的宝贵资源，帮助他们了解最新信息和疫苗的可用性。
“It's interesting that people have a lot of different responses to getting the vaccine,” she said. “There's kind of a split. 有些人，我想，觉得有义务接种疫苗，有点紧张。 但也有一半人在接种疫苗后只是松了一口气。 They're wanting to protect themselves and also all their loved ones.”
拜尔估计，自去年12月以来，她已经参加了至少10个疫苗诊所，她只希望自己有时间做更多的事情。 她说，在她参加的一次大型活动中，有800多人接种了疫苗。
“We wish we could be there all the time helping,” she said. “With school, it’s hard to dedicate all your time going out and vaccinating. Without all the volunteers, who knows where we would have been on this vaccine rollout schedule.”