On Tuesday, Northeastern became one of the first universities in the United States to administer the COVID-19 vaccines. Almost 100 people working at the Cabot Testing Center, the Life Sciences Testing Centerand University health and counseling services received their first dose.
Northeastern, which is an official supplier of Massachusetts’ COVID-19 vaccine, received 200 doses of the Modern vaccine from the community to administer the First phase individuals, with more doses to come. Included in the first group are clinical and non-clinical health professionals who provide direct care to COVID, police and first responders and health professionals who provide non-direct care to COVID.
“It is not only remarkable that we are one of the first to have the vaccine, but also that we have built a test facility that is the gold standard,” he said. Joseph E. Aoun, president of the Northeast, while in Cabot, where the first individuals were receiving the vaccine. “The whole community has come together to ensure that welfare and security are not negotiable. The vaccine is another expression of how we have been a pioneering community in terms of safety ”.
Iloisa “Lola” Teixeira, who works at the Cabot Testing Center as a medical assistant supervising the swab, was the first northeastern community to receive the vaccine.
Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern, celebrates how the first Modern COVID-19 vaccine is administered at the Northeastern testing center at the Cabot Physical Education Center. Photo: Matthew Modoono / Northeastern University
Rolling up the right sleeve of his shirt, which had Northeastern’s “We Tested to Protect” motto, Teixeira prepared his arm for Jackie Fox, a UHCS nurse, to administer his dose.
Teixeira looked away and shivered slightly when the needle came in, but guaranteed that “it didn’t even hurt – I just do it with all the needles”. She says she will celebrate at home later with a glass of wine.
Teixeira, who is Cape Verdean and lives in Dorchester, Massachusetts, has worked at the Cabot Testing Center since the day it opened. She says she was personally affected by the coronavirus – a member of her family died of COVID-19 earlier this year – and she is relieved that she is now protected from the virus.
The university estimates that about 1,500 individuals from the northeastern community are eligible for vaccination in the first phase. About 1,000 of those receiving Phase One vaccines are students working in direct patient care in cooperatives and other clinical care positions. Doses will continue to be administered as soon as others are made available by the community. Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be provided, depending on the supply.
“Our hope is to increase the capacity to vaccinate more than 1,000 people a day”, says Christine Civiletto, the UHCS interim executive director, who helps oversee vaccine operations.
Vaccines will be administered at the Cabot Testing Center by trained medical professionals with clinical and public health experience.
People will receive the vaccine at one of the 10 stations installed at the test center, and each patient will be monitored for 15 minutes after inoculation. In the case of an allergic reaction, epinephrine pens are available.
Vaccines are administered in two doses. Public health officials in the United States recommend that individuals receive the same vaccine – whether Pfizer or Moderna – for both doses. Vaccines in the Northeast will receive notifications from the university at the time of the second dose.
Phase Two, which will include people with comorbidities, over 65, and essential service workers, is scheduled to start in February in the Northeast.
Planning is underway to work with local governments on other campuses in the Northeast’s global network to bring vaccines to the university’s international community.
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