SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Onondaga County and New York state’s initiative to vaccinate college students is now underway. Syracuse University began administering vaccines to students on Wednesday.
The state and county provided 1,600 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for the university. Brittany Kmush, assistant professor of public health at Syracuse University, said college students are part of the group most responsible for spreading the COVID-19 virus.
“There is a lot of evidence throughout the United States that the 18 to 35 year olds are the ones sustaining the outbreak right now,” Kmush said. “They have sustained transmission, they’re younger, healthier, have to go to work or school and they’re the ones out in public most likely to get infected and most likely to continue to transmit.”
The university plans to vaccinate about 250 students per day. Kmush said the vaccinations will help bring down the number of COVID-19 cases in the county.
“As soon as we get more people fully vaccinated, that will lower the transmission on campus,” Kmush said. “So, that will hopefully cut down on the numbers that Syracuse University is contributing to Onondaga County.”
Syracuse University currently accounts for 184 active COVID-19 cases in central New York, according to the university’s COVID-19 dashboard. Onondaga County had 95 new positive tests on Wednesday, according to the New York State Department of Health.
Kmush encouraged students who may not be able to get vaccinated through the university to turn to the county.
“All students, assuming they’re 16 or older, are eligible to get the vaccine as of yesterday,” Kmush said. “You can sign up through the links that the university sent out, or if you want to go through the county or state sites, … I know the county has several thousand, I believe, of vaccine appointments over the next few days available. So, if you don’t get a call back or an appointment with the university, use those options as well.”
According to Kmush, college students are a higher priority than high school students for vaccinations.
“Typically, high school students have less contacts outside of school,” Kmush said. “They’re in their school, they have their friends that go to their school, so typically they have smaller bubbles.”
Nevertheless, Kmush believes that the road to normalcy runs through young people.
“If we want to see numbers start to come down, to try to get back to normal, we need to vaccinate as many young people as possible,” Kmush said.
