Some US States Seek Medical Students to Give COVID-19 Vaccines

Healthcare workers across the United States are busy fighting COVID-19 in overcrowded hospitals. At the same time, there is a great need for medical workers to give millions of newly arrived vaccine¹ doses.

To take some of the pressure off the healthcare workers, some U.S. states are asking medical and nursing students, in some cases even firefighters, to help give the shots.

So far, at least seven state health departments are looking for volunteers to help out at vaccination² centers. Departments are cooperating with local universities or nursing schools. Some are offering incentives⁴, such as lowering students' costs to study and giving hands-on training to first responders.

COVID-19 has left more than 333,000 Americans dead and caused great economic harm. But the new vaccines⁵ are the best hope many have to see things turn around.

This month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first two COVID-19 vaccines, one from drug-makers Pfizer Inc and BioNTech, the other from Moderna.

As of December 23, almost 10 million doses had been shipped across the country. But only about 1 million were used because of limited support at hospitals and the special requirements for preparing the shots. The slow start will make it difficult for the federal government to reach its goal of vaccinating⁶ nearly 20 million people before the end of 2020.

The current vaccination programs are centering mainly on frontline healthcare workers. But beginning in January or February, the vaccination drive is expected to expand to tens of millions of essential industry workers.

From New York to Tennessee, states are hoping that support from medical and nursing students will let medical workers turn all their efforts to the record numbers of new COVID-19 patients.

Being able to use volunteers means the healthcare workers "can continue to perform their normal duties, which is crucial as our hospitalization rate has increased," a spokeswoman for Indiana University's School of Medicine told Reuters news agency.

As the first vaccines arrived, Indiana health officials called on the state university because its campuses are spread over a large area. More than 630 of Indiana University's medical and nursing students have signed up as volunteers and received 90 minutes of online and hands-on training.

Fourth-year medical student Nicholas Clough recently began giving COVID-19 vaccines to healthcare workers. He has lost several family members during the pandemic. "It finally felt like it was a real, tangible⁷ strike back against COVID," Clough told Reuters.

In California, first responders have been trained to give the vaccine, first to their co-workers.

"They have already received online training and will have another one-hour live training session," said Peter Sanders, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department. The department was expecting doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

Some states are not actively⁸ looking for volunteers, until there are more vaccines ready for the public.

So far, only Massachusetts and New York have changed their laws for who can give shots.

On December 13, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo acted to permit students from medically related fields to give the flu and COVID-19 shots, with supervision⁹.

"We encourage all medical and nursing students to register now so they will be ready when their assistance is needed," a health department spokeswoman said.

Words in This Story

incentive³ – n. something that encourages a person to do something or to work harder

first responder – n. someone trained to respond to an emergency.

dose – n. the amount of a medicine or drug that is taken at one time

crucial – adj. extremely important

essential – adj. extremely important and necessary

tangible – adj. easily seen or recognized

frontline – n. an area involving action and conflict

supervision – n. the action or process of watching and directing what someone does or how something is done

encourage –v. to make (someone) more determined, hopeful, or confident

1 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

2 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

3 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

4 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

5 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

6 vaccinating   

给…接种疫苗( vaccinate的现在分词 )； 注射疫苗，接种疫苗

参考例句：

• At first blush, vaccinating the wolves against rabies seems a simple solution. 乍一看来，为狼群注射防狂犬病疫苗是一种简单的办法。
• Also vaccinating children against misers (measles) has saved many lives. 还有，给儿童进行疫苗接种防止麻疹也挽救了许多生命。

7 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。

8 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

9 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。