Northeastern on Tuesday became one of the first universities in the United States to administer COVID-19 vaccines. Nearly 100 people in the Cabot Test Center, the Life Science Testing Center, en University Health and Counseling Services receiving their first dose.
Northeastern, which is an official COVID-19 vaccine supplier in Massachusetts, has received 200 doses of Moderna vaccine from the Commonwealth to Phase One individuals, with more doses to come. Included in the first group are clinical and non-clinical health care workers who provide direct COVID care, police and first response, and health care workers who do not care for COVID face.
“It is not only remarkable that we are one of the first to have had the vaccine, but also that we have built a testing facility that is the gold standard,” he said. Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern, while standing in Cabot, where the first individuals received the vaccine. ‘The whole community came together to ensure that well-being and safety are not negotiable. The vaccine is another manifestation of how we were a pioneering community in terms of safety. ‘
Iloisa “Lola” Teixeira, who works at the Cabot Testing Center as a medical assistant overseeing swabbing, was the first member of the Northeastern community to receive the vaccine.
Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern, celebrates the first vaccine for Modern COVID-19 administered at Northeastern’s test center at the Cabot Physical Education Center. Photo by Matthew Modoono / Northeastern University
Teixeira pulled up the right sleeve of her shirt, with the motto “We Test To Protect” from Northeastern, and prepared her upper arm for Jackie Fox, a nurse at UHCS, to administer her dose.
Teixeira looked away and pulled slightly when the needle went in, but assured that “it did not even hurt – I only do it for all needles.” She says she will celebrate later at home with a glass of wine.
Teixeira, who hails from Cape Verde and lives in Dorchester, Massachusetts, has been working at the Cabot Testing Center since opening day. She says she was personally affected by the coronavirus – a member of her family died of COVID-19 earlier this year – and she is relieved to be protected against the virus now.
The university estimates that approximately 1,500 individuals from the Northeastern community are eligible for phase 1 vaccinations. About 1,000 of those receiving Phase One vaccines are students caring for immediate patients in cooperatives and other clinical care settings. Doses will still be administered as soon as more are available from the Commonwealth. Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are available, depending on supply.
“Our hope is to increase to vaccinating more than 1,000 people a day,” says Christine Civiletto, the interim executive director of UHCS, which helps oversee vaccines.
The vaccines will be administered in the Cabot Testing Center by trained medical professionals with clinical and public health expertise.
People will receive the vaccine at one of the 10 stations set up in the test center, and each patient will be monitored for 15 minutes after vaccination. In case of an allergic reaction, epinephrine pens are ready.
Vaccines are administered in two doses. U.S. public health officials recommend that individuals receive the same vaccine – either Pfizer or Moderna – for both doses. People vaccinated at Northeastern will receive notice from the university when they need to receive their second dose.
Phase two, which will include people with minor illnesses, 65 years and older, and essential service workers, is expected to begin in February in the Northeast.
It is currently planned to work with other governments on other campuses in Northeastern’s global network to bring vaccines to the international community of the university.
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