COVID-19 vaccines will be available for Linfield University students, staff, and faculty at the McMinnville campus starting Thursday, May 6. The Student Health, Wellness and Counseling Center (SHWCC) is planning on distributing doses of the Moderna vaccine on Wednesdays and Thursdays through the end of May term. 

Students do not need to be enrolled in a May term class to be eligible for a dose, said SHWCC director Patricia Haddeland in an interview with The Linfield Review. “If you’re on campus for another reason or you’re in the local area, you can come get your vaccine,” she added. “Regardless of your current status as a student.”

Appointments can be made by emailing [email protected] or by calling 503-883-2535. 

There will be 20 doses available for May 6, but Haddeland said they can “have as much vaccine as there is interest” from the community. The Moderna vaccine comes in 10-dose vials, so she stressed that once they open a vial, they have to use all 10 doses in one day or else they’ll have to waste it.

“Just two vials tomorrow, and we’ll gauge interest after that,” Haddeland said. By Tuesday afternoon, five appointments had been taken.

SHWCC will only be able to offer the first dose of the two-dose series at their in-house clinics. The second dose, which comes four weeks later, should be easy to find an appointment for, said Haddeland. Students who stay in the area can get theirs in McMinnville at Physicians Medical Center, which is providing the vaccine to SHWCC.

“If [a student is] leaving the area, Moderna is very commonly available and therefore the likelihood that they can just call their own healthcare provider and get an appointment is pretty high,” said Haddeland.

At least 100 colleges across the country are requiring vaccination against COVID-19 for students returning in the fall, according to The New York Times. Haddeland said that administration officials at Linfield are “in the process of considering a similar requirement,” but no decisions are being made at this time.

“We certainly strongly recommend that students get a COVID vaccine,” Haddeland said.