Temple continues administering COVID-19 vaccines for fifth week

The university’s clinic will remain open tomorrow and next week before closing.

Darian Zenouzi, a senior English major, and Jenna Zenouzi, a sophomore finance major, traveled from outside the city to receive their second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. | ALLIE IPPOLITO / THE TEMPLE NEWS

Temple University continued vaccinating students with second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for the second week at its White Hall clinic on Wednesday. 

Temple administered more than 500 second doses of the vaccine last week and expects to administer more than 1,000 second doses of the vaccine this week, wrote Mark Denys, director of Student Health Services, in an email to The Temple News.

The university vaccinated 2,754 students, faculty and staff with first doses of the vaccine for three weeks beginning March 31 and Philadelphia residents beginning April 1, The Temple News reported. Temple will continue to administer second doses tomorrow and next week before the clinic closes.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine requires two doses at least 21 days apart, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Philadelphia supplies Temple with 1,100 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine each week. About half the vaccines are intended for students, faculty and staff and the other half for Philadelphia residents, The Temple News reported.

Students and employees who received first doses at Temple signed up using the university’s vaccine interest form, while Philadelphia residents used the city’s vaccine interest form. First dose recipients signed up for their second doses before leaving the clinic.

Temple is currently only administering second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Students, faculty, staff and residents who need to get their first dose should sign up elsewhere, The Temple News reported.

Temple is administering second doses to a few people who didn’t their first dose at White Hall, but people should get their second dose at the same place as their first dose, The Temple News reported.

David Woyden, a senior biology major, looks forward to getting back to normal after he received his second shot and waits two weeks for his immunity to build up, he said.

“I’m a huge advocate for the vaccine given, just like, all the science stuff I do, so I’m very happy,” Woyden said. 

Those receiving Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving their second dose. People who receive the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving their shot, according to the CDC.  

Fully vaccinated people can gather with other fully vaccinated people, but should continue to wear masks indoors around unvaccinated people and avoid large indoor gatherings.

The CDC updated its COVID-19 guidelines on Tuesday allowing fully vaccinated people to gather outdoors without masks and dine outdoors with people from multiple households, according to the CDC.

Emma Austin, a sophomore criminal justice major, didn’t have any side effects from her first vaccine dose and hopes not to have any from the second dose, she said.

The COVID-19 vaccine can cause temporary side effects, including tiredness, headache, fever and nausea, according to the CDC.

Austin has sent sign up links to her friends to encourage them getting vaccinated, she said.

On April 16, Philadelphia moved to Phase 2 of it’s vaccine distribution effort, expanding eligibility to all residents 16 years and older, The Temple News reported.

More than 748,000 Philadelphia residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and more than 500,000 are fully vaccinated, The Temple News reported.

Darian Zenouzi, a senior English major, and Jenna Zenouzi, a sophomore finance major, traveled from outside the city to get vaccinated at Temple because it was a quicker process to get vaccinated there.

“I want to encourage people to get vaccinated, especially Temple students, because I want it to be in person next semester,” Jenna Zenouzi said.

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