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Foto: Pixabay
Students and employees of Radboud University can get vaccinated against corona on campus during the orientation week. From the 23rd of August the Municipal Health Service will set up a temporary vaccination centre in the Erasmus building. ‘By making it as easy as possible for students, we hope to contribute to a higher vaccination coverage.’
For a while now, Dutch universities have been calling for things to get back to normal on campus. It should be possible, said Pieter Duisenberg, chair of the Association of Universities in the Netherlands a few weeks ago at Nieuwsuur. Especially if the vaccination coverage among students is high enough. With a temporary vaccination centre on campus, the Municipal Health Service (GGD) and Radboud University hope to contribute to that.
‘We are convinced that the more people get vaccinated, the better’
The mobile vaccination centre is set up from the 23rd of August, on the ground floor of the Erasmus Building, in the ‘tuinzaal’ just underneath the walking bridge to the Elinor Ostrom building. Students and employees can get vaccinated on the spot, without appointment. They can choose for one shot of Janssen, or a shot of Pfizer with a follow-up appointment. The centre should be able to vaccinate sixty people per hour.
International students
The idea for the temporary vaccination centre came from the university, says rector magnificus Han van Krieken. ‘We are convinced that the more people get vaccinated, the better. That’s why we want to make it as easy as possible for students. Besides, we have international students from countries where the vaccination coverage is lower than in the Netherlands. We also want to give those students the opportunity to get vaccinated.’
One and a half metre
Besides the vaccination coverage, also the one-and-a-half metre rule has a big influence on the question if students can return to campus this academic year. Universities are hoping that at the press conference this Friday, caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte will announce that the rule will be lifted for all higher education. ‘If that happens, we can have about 80 to 90 per cent of the lectures on campus’, says Van Krieken. ‘If it doesn’t, that will only be about 20 to 30 per cent.’
Van Krieken also realises that if lectures can take place on campus, infection rates will probably increase. ‘But that’s not a big issue anymore. People of this age group rarely end up in the hospital with COVID and the vaccination coverage among professors is extremely high.’ Still, the rector wants to ask students to keep following the rules and test themselves at home if necessary. ‘That stick doesn’t enter your nose as far as it does with the PCR-test. I’ve used the self-tests multiple times and it’s really not that bad.’
The GGD would also like to see an increase in vaccination coverage among students. That’s why there will be several walk-in vaccine clinics at different universities during the orientation week. ‘We’ve chosen for this period, because that’s when we expect a lot of people on campus’, says Van Krieken. Those who really don’t feel like having side effects during the orientation week, will most likely be able to get vaccinated the week after as well.
Consequences
But isn’t the university forcing students to get vaccinated this way? No, says Van Krieken. ‘Students can decide for themselves if they want to get vaccinated or not. It’s their choice. Still, they should realise that their decision can have consequences. We wouldn’t want a small group of people to make it impossible for the rest to get lectures on campus.’
Working with COVID certificates and that way forcing students to get tested or vaccinated is out of the question at this point, says Van Krieken. ‘That could change if the alternative is that people can’t come to campus, but that’s not the case now.’
