UW leaders visit campus vaccine clinic, plan to scale up operations

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - UW Chancellor Blank and other UW System leaders took a tour of a campus vaccine clinic Tuesday, as the university plans to scale up operations as more COVID-19 vaccines become available.

The Nicholas Recreation Center, or ‘Nick,’ became a vaccine clinic for UHS in February. According to UW, the university has administered nearly 10,500 COVID-19 vaccine doses to its community.

Blank, interim UW System President Tommy Thompson and others visited the site.

“We feel really fortunate to have access to this space, and to be able to provide COVID-19 vaccines to our students and employees,” said Associate Vice Chancellor and Executive Director of University Health Services Jake Baggott. “We look forward to supplies increasing so we can get more of our community on their way to full protection against the disease.”

This Spring Semester, UW has required students undergo routine testing in order to access campus buildings. As more people become vaccinated, UW says they can gain exemption through the Safer Badgers app from campus surveillance testing.

UW Oshkosh, UW Milwaukee and UW Green Bay have also opened up community vaccination centers. Nursing and pharmacy students in the UW System have volunteered to administer the vaccine, according to UW.

“There’s a reason Wisconsin is outperforming the nation on vaccine distribution,” said Thompson. “That’s because we have our best and brightest on our campuses, including our health professional students, out here working hard to beat COVID-19.”