Dozens of TUS students avail of shuttle bus to Moate vaccination hub
Some 47 students in TUS Midlands availed of a free shuttle bus service to Moate last week to receive a Covid-19 vaccination.
The aim of the service was to provide a simple and accessible way for students to get vaccinated, according to the TUS Midlands Nurse and Student Health Coordinator Laura Tully.
"Students have a busy workload between work, placement, lectures and hobbies so it's important that the process is made as simple as possible, and this was a practical solution," Laura said.
"We managed to get two mini-busloads of students to use the shuttle bus service. Last month we had a vaccination week where we really encouraged students to get vaccinated, and that had a great uptake so this was continuation of that."
While Laura and the health service in the university have encouraged students to get vaccinated, she says that she is pleasantly surprised by the peer-led approach towards encouraging vaccines amongst students.
"If one person in a group of friends gets vaccinated and openly talks about that, then one or two others in the group tend to do the same," she explained.
"I'd say half of the students on the buses today were receiving their first dose.
“Outside of the bus, there were also a lot of students carpooling to the centre,” she said.
Laura believes that younger people and students are becoming more aware of the need to not only protect themselves, but those around them.
"A lot of young people have either had Covid, or know someone who had Covid and had a very mild case of it, which then leads them to thinking that they can handle the virus.
"Lately they have realised that if you had the Alpha variant, you can get re-infected with the Delta variant so they want to protect themselves, their families and the people around them.
"Once students have reliable information and advice in relation to vaccines, which they might not have encountered before, they generally are a lot more comfortable in going to get vaccinated."
Despite the success of the service, Laura would like to see a more permanent testing centre established in the town.
"We have 6,000 students here in Athlone but we don't have a test centre, which is something that I have been advocating for. Students have very complex movements. They might go from a lecture to work to placement, or travel to other colleges for freshers' week or a night out, so they have a lot of contacts.
"I receive calls every week from students who are symptomatic and I tell them that they have to go to a centre, but a lot of them don't have cars to drive to a centre outside of Athlone.
"I've worked with the HSE on this and staff came to the campus last week and 56 people were tested, so hopefully that is something that is supported and will remain in place or even be ramped up. Lots of people, not just students, would like for there to be a more permanent test centre in the town."
Laura finished by saying that all students and members of the public are welcome and encouraged to attend the Moate walk-in vaccination clinics which will continue on Thursday October 28 from 10am-4pm, and Sunday October 31 from 10am-3pm.