Barry University prepares for H1N1 vaccination distribution on its main campus

More than 100 students, faculty and staff from Barry University’s Division of Nursing attended an H1N1 vaccination training orientation to prepare for vaccine distribution on the university’s Miami Shores campus later this semester. The orientation, which took place on Wednesday, Oct. 21, introduced Barry volunteers to the Miami-Dade Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), a community-based group of medical and non-medical volunteers that will be administering the vaccination training on campus.

Barry’s Student Health Center has been working closely with the Florida Department of Health, Miami-Dade Health Department and the MRC to coordinate H1N1 vaccine distribution at Barry University's main campus. Students, faculty and staff who have volunteered to take part in the vaccination effort have enrolled with the Miami-Dade MRC, which is sponsored throughout the country by the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General and supported in Florida by the Florida Department of Health. During the orientation, volunteers learned about the MRC, its policies and procedures and its role in the H1N1 vaccination initiative.

Within the next few weeks, Barry volunteers are expected to complete training with the MRC during a second training session on Barry’s main campus. Once the training is complete and a distribution date is received from the Miami-Dade Health Department, the H1N1 vaccines will be offered free of charge to students, faculty and staff at Barry University through the Student Health Center and Human Resources.

The 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) monovalent vaccine has been purchased by the federal government as a means of protecting the public against 2009 H1N1 influenza. It is being made available to immunization providers working in partnership with state and local public health departments to vaccinate individuals for whom the vaccine is recommended.

For more information about the H1N1 vaccination effort at Barry University, e-mail Candice Hill, Student Health Services clinic coordinator, at chill@mail.barry.edu or call her at 305-899-4942.