Under the University of California San Diego’s newest vaccine mandate, which was established on September 1st, the Preuss School UC San Diego opened a single-day vaccination clinic at the Walton Center on Friday, December 3rd.

The clinic lasted from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, and provided patients with vaccines for COVID-19 and the common Flu.

Preuss students and family members were invited to receive vaccinations at the clinic. The COVID-19 vaccines were provided to those ages 5 and up. Flu vaccines were also provided to those ages 6 months or older.

To receive the vaccination, family members had to make an appointment through the Parentsquare website and were required to bring their Government ID. Scholars had to bring their student ID to also receive the vaccinations.

This is not the first time that Preuss has held a vaccination clinic on campus.

During the nationwide lockdown of educational institutions in May and April of 2021, Preuss held several clinics to treat Preuss scholars and their families with the then newly-released Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

According to the executive director of the Preuss School, Helen V. Griffith, UCSD’s health protocols such as the establishment of vaccination clinics have “reinforced the importance of hygiene and sanitization” on campus.

Despite government-supported evidence that lists the COVID-19 vaccines as safe and effective, minority communities in San Diego cities continue to be plagued with hesitation to take the vaccine.

On September 1st, assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health at UCSD and founder of the 2VIDA! Project Argentina Servent revealed to the UC San Diego ‘Newsroom’ that Latino and African American communities suffered from higher COVID-19 exposure rates. She explained that they suffered from higher rates due to negative perceptions of the vaccine. Servant elaborated that these communities came from cities such as Chula Vista, National City, and Logan Heights.

According to 2VIDA!’s lead research assistant, Raquel Rocha, the communities’ biggest concerns about taking the vaccine are whether it affected health and pregnancy. She elaborated that their major concern was whether the vaccine “was rushed.”.

To combat vaccine resistance within these communities, high school student Rodolfo Castillo (‘22) recommended that every scholar get vaccinated. He also advised scholars to advise their communities at home to get vaccinated.

Castillo appreciated the fact that Preuss opened a vaccination clinic on campus, but he pointed out that he didn’t” personally think that students should be forced to get vaccinated.”

Executive director, Dr. Griffith ultimately thanked the University of California San Diego’s establishment of vaccination clinics at Preuss for “[maintaining] a safer campus for [students and staff] within our learning community.”

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