With more than 115 million Americans now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the focus has shifted to people who are hesitant or undecided. We talked to UNI biology professor Dave McClenahan, an immunologist who studies infectious disease, about why nearly everyone should be fully vaccinated.
Why should people with healthy immune systems get vaccinated?
For UNI education professor Theophile Muhayimana, it was about protecting himself and the campus community he’s a part of. For senior elementary education major Marisa Jane Bieschke, it was about keeping her students safe.
The University of Northern Iowa welcomes the community to participate in a virtual panel discussion to address health inequalities in the age of COVID-19.
The colloquium, taking place at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 15, will bring panelists from across UNI and the Cedar Valley community to discuss their research and professional experiences related to health inequalities and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like many things in 2021, the National Case Study Competition in Health Education went virtual. The change in format didn’t rattle the team of UNI public health seniors Lynn Kleyer, Kara Hooper and MacKenzie Helle in the slightest as they won second place and gained valuable experience developing solutions to public health issues.
A team of University of Northern Iowa students earned second place in the National Case Study Competition in Health Education, a virtual format competition that brought together students from around the country to participate in addressing a community health issue.
With coronavirus vaccines starting to become more widely available, InsideUNI reached out to Student Health Clinic director Shelley O’Connell with some questions about what to expect when getting vaccinated. While Iowa has expanded its eligibility
Why do some people feel bad after the first dose?
It is normal to have some side effects after the first dose of COVID-19. Many people report having swelling and a sore arm for a few days after their first dose.
As a graduate student working to treat speech disorders at UNI’s Roy Eblen Speech and Hearing Clinic, Alli Prybil's first priority is keeping her patients safe.
So when she learned last week that she was among the first on campus eligible under state guidelines to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, Prybil, pictured on the right, jumped at the chance.
Working as a CNA at Mercy One Medical Center in Cedar Falls, junior pre-med biology and global health major Mikaela Elenz risked her health protecting COVID patients, some of whom died. Now, she, and other Panthers, are among the first in the state to get vaccinated, providing a welcome ray of hope after a difficult year of illness and uncertainty.
“It was kind of cathartic to be able to get the vaccine after I had watched all the trauma and havoc that coronavirus has put on families and communities,” said Elenz, who sees the vaccine as an important step in ending the pandemic.
Some hopeful news arrived last week as hospitals across the country began administering the first COVID-19 vaccine approved in the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to clear another vaccine for emergency use this week. Initial supplies of both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are limited and are only available to health care workers, but last week was widely viewed as an important step in ending a global pandemic.
The University of Northern Iowa is creating change on campus, and faculty, staff, and students are working together to make it happen. This past fall, President Nook announced twelve action items to address needs, challenges, and opportunities expressed by the campus community.
