After a long year of heavy restrictions, life is slowly getting back to normal. Restaurant capacity continues to increase daily, and more and more students have returned to Eye Street. Despite loosening regulations, however, the race to vaccinate rages on. More than 200 million doses have been delivered across the country, with both Maryland and Virginia recently opening up vaccinations to anyone over the age of 16.
In the weeks following these announcements, some Gonzaga students were already getting vaccinations. A survey of 114 that Gonzaga students asked their grade, the state they live in and whether or not they had received a COVID-19 vaccine. Roughly 10% of the student body participated, and responses came from 43 seniors, 34 juniors, 31 sophomores and six freshmen.
Survey results found that the grade with the highest proportion of vaccinated students, unsurprisingly, was the senior class, with 49% having received one dose and 30% fully vaccinated. From the survey results, 47 % of the juniors received at least one dose, and 42% of the sophomores surveyed received at least one dose. None of the six freshmen surveyed had been vaccinated, as those under 16 are not yet eligible. However, this is likely to change soon.
In terms of location, students living in Maryland had the highest vaccination rate, with 51% of respondents having received one dose and 15% fully vaccinated. Virginia was fairly close behind, with 33% of respondents having received one dose and 19% being fully vaccinated. The District of Columbia was quite far behind, with only 27% of residents having one dose and 13% having two.
At the moment, Gonzaga has no plans to offer extended access to campus for fully vaccinated students. However, as has often been the case during the COVID era, this is subject to change. Vaccinated students are asked to send their vaccination cards to Ms. Amy Harper, nurse.
“As of right now, vaccinated students do not get to come to campus more often,” said Ms. Harper. “However, the benefits of being vaccinated include not having to quarantine if you travel or have close contact with someone with COVID.”
The hope is that in the near future fully vaccinated students will be able to come to campus every day; however, no official plans have been announced.
“I had to drive over an hour to get my vaccine,” said senior Aidan Matthews. “But I’m just happy to have it done. I had no side effects and am excited to get back to normal life soon.”
Many colleges and universities across the country are requiring students to be vaccinated before they can return to campus, including Boston University and Dartmouth College.