ISU pharmacy students assisting in COVID vaccine efforts in Idaho and Alaska
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POCATELLO — Student pharmacists at Idaho State University have joined the front lines, administering COVID-19 vaccines in Idaho and Alaska.
About 40 student pharmacists have already begun assisting in the vaccination process. Twenty students are at St. Alphonsus Medical Centers across the Treasure Valley. Additionally, ISU student pharmacists have vaccinated more than 700 people in Anchorage, Alaska, where ISU has operated a pharmacy program in collaboration with the University of Anchorage Alaska for the past five years.
“The only challenge we are facing now is the availability of the vaccine,” Dr. Kevin Cleveland, director of the Office of Experiential Education, said in a news release. “Our students are experienced. We’re ready to go out into community pharmacies or other locations and administer vaccines. That’s going to be where we can help the most, by having students available to give shots, when we have them.”
ISU expects student pharmacists to join vaccination efforts at Albertsons locations across the state in the coming days.
Students, faculty and staff at ISU are also helping to conduct the university’s newly implemented COVID-19 screening at all campus locations.