UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland-School of Nursing COVID Vaccine Clinic
Students and faculty from the UCSF School of Nursing once again answered the call for volunteers to administer COVID-19 vaccines in the community — this time inoculating hundreds of children against the coronavirus.
In partnership with UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, 30 School of Nursing faculty and students vaccinated 221 children during three Saturday clinics in November and December. The children were ages 5 to 11, and vaccine-eligible.
“It was fulfilling to support efforts to end the pandemic,” said assistant professor Kate Holbrook, MS, RN, who volunteered at two of the Saturday clinics. “We are all affected by the pandemic in many ways and, collectively, we all must do our part to move forward.”
Many communities have been ramping up efforts to vaccinate children since COVID-19 vaccines were approved for children ages 5 to 11 in November. COVID-19 cases among children are on the rise in the U.S. and the School’s faculty and students are determined to protect children from the virus.
The School of Nursing has played a key role in supporting the COVID-19 response since the start of the pandemic. Faculty and students have been engaged in symptom screening, contact tracing, patient testing, and helping to vaccinate thousands of San Francisco Bay Area residents including UCSF frontline workers, people experiencing homelessness, and patients unable to leave their homes.
Most recently, on Nov. 20, Dec. 11 and Dec. 18, School faculty and students administered the COVID vaccine to children at BCH Oakland. In addition, at the Dec. 18 clinic, the faculty and student volunteers administered the COVID booster to 38 UCSF employees. The Saturday clinics provided much-needed flexibility for busy families.
“The pandemic has presented many logistical challenges for parents and families,” said Hattie Silliman, DNP, RN, CPNP, nurse manager of ambulatory services at BCH Oakland who oversaw the vaccine clinics. “Our Saturday clinics have been a great way to further facilitate access to the COVID vaccine.”
The clinics also provided some students the opportunity to gain clinical experience working specifically with children.
“It was such a privilege to have my first opportunity working in a nursing capacity to be with the COVID vaccination effort,” said Carly Hwang, a student in the School’s Master’s Entry Program in Nursing program, “and being part of the solution to get children back to in-person learning safely was immensely gratifying.”
Professor Maureen McGrath, MS, RN, PNP, who lives near BCH Oakland, also wanted to help children in her community.
“When I received my own vaccination in January 2021, I felt as though it was a medically historic moment,” she said. “Receiving my own vaccine was quite emotional and immediately reduced my own anxiety about getting COVID. I wanted to be a part of reducing the anxiety of so many parents just as I had that same privilege months earlier.”
(Posted: Dec. 20, 2021)