School of Nursing faculty help administer first group of COVID-19 vaccinations to eligible Kentuckians

Kentucky joins states across the United States administering its first COVID-19 vaccinations. The vaccination is being offered to health care workers and medical first responders. A mass vaccination site opened on Jan. 4 at Broadbent Arena in Louisville.

At least 15 School of Nursing faculty members are helping provide the manpower for this vaccination initiative and using it as an educational opportunity for students, who will begin volunteering on Jan. 18. Nursing students will help with check in as well as administer vaccinations under faculty supervision.

Each shift will include students primarily from the Master's Entry into Professional Nursing and undergraduate global public health programs.

The School of Nursing is scheduled to volunteer through February and will offer staffing for as long as the immunizations are being offered.

"Nurses have always answered the call to be on the frontlines of saving and protecting lives," said Whitney Nash, Ph.D., APRN, FAANP, assistant vice president of interprofessional practice partnerships, Health Sciences Center, and associate dean of practice and service, UofL School of Nursing. "Our faculty and students are honored to be part of this vaccination clinic, and join with other health care workers to help end this pandemic."