UCF prepares to vaccinate 6,000 students

ORLANDO, Fla. – Beginning Wednesday, students at the University of Central Florida will be able to get the vaccine on campus.

A spokesperson with UCF told News 6 they will have enough doses of the Pfizer vaccine to vaccinate 6,000 students. The school posted online that all of the available vaccine appointments have been filled. The school plans to vaccinate 2,000 students a day from Wednesday through Friday.

Cody Crittenden, a residential assistant at UCF, said, “all of my friends are already signed up for their appointments, or are trying to, but they filled up pretty fast.”

As a student staff member that works and lives with students, Crittenden said he’d like to see the vaccine be made a requirement to be on campus.

“Because we’re gonna have people be in-person classes next year, so it’s gonna be a lot more safer if everyone gets the vaccine,” Crittenden said.

A spokesperson with the university told us today, right now they are strongly encouraging that students and staff be vaccinated.

“We’re gonna let it play out and see what the whole university system does, what higher education does, it’s certainly an active conversation,” said Grant Cornwell, the President of Rollins College.

He said they too are offering the vaccine, starting Tuesday, and have acquired enough doses to vaccinate 750 students.

“Our goal is to have a fully vaccinated campus next Fall when we return, and to get there, I hope that we can get our students vaccinated before they go home for summer,” Cornwell said.

Right now there are five universities across the country that are requiring students to be vaccinated to be on campus in the Fall, according to their websites.

They include Cornell University, Rutgers University, Fort Lewis College, Nova Southeastern University and St. Edward’s University.

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