Over a hot weekend in August, about a dozen students participated in an immunization outreach event at the Benton County Soccer Tournament held at Willamette Park in Corvallis. This event was put on by Operation Immunization, lead by Sara Kelley, and was sponsored by the Oregon Adult Immunization Coalition (OAIC).
Students provided free vaccine services to the underserved Latino community. Both Tdap and Pneumococcal vaccines were offered, with most patients receiving the Tdap vaccine. About 50 vaccines were delivered over the course of the weekend. All students volunteering were incoming P2 students, most of whom had little vaccine delivery experience prior to the event. This event helped us to prepare for upcoming fall influenza clinics by allowing P2 students to gain valuable experience in patient care and vaccine delivery.
There were many opportunities for students to practice educating patients about vaccines in both Spanish and English. Overall, this event was very successful and we hope to continue holding this clinic at the annual soccer tournament. Thank you to those students who volunteered their time and to our preceptors Natalea Braden-Suchy and Roberto Linares.