ASUI met Wednesday, discussing the importance of vaccination and encouraging student engagement.
ASUI Vice President Katie Hettinga highlighted the ongoing programs to get students vaccinated, including University of Idaho’s incentives with proof of full vaccinations.
$50 credits to Idaho Eats or the VandalStore will become available Monday, with instructions on how to retrieve the chosen incentive going out Friday. The first $1,000 tuition credit drawings will take place next Thursday, Sept. 16, and continue each week for the next 10 weeks. There will be two $5,000 tuition credit drawings, the first of which will take place next Friday, Sept. 17.
“Idaho is the state with the lowest vaccination rate. We have the research backing up vaccine safety and efficacy and we have the convenience of hosting vaccine clinics on campus,” Hettinga said.
The free vaccine clinics will take place every week for the next five weeks, the first of which will take place Sept. 9 from 3-5 p.m. and is open for registration on the university website.
While a COVID-19 vaccine is not mandatory on the UI campus, Hettinga emphasized that vaccinated students allow for the university and all its educational and extracurricular offerings to be enjoyed to their fullest possible extent.
“If you want to keep your classes in person, if you want to see each other again without masks on, if you want to help the people around you feel safe and if want to make a difference in ending the pandemic, then I would strongly encourage that all of you get vaccinated,” Hettinga said.
In addition to emphasizing the importance of a vaccinated campus community, Hettinga assured that COVID-19 shouldn’t be a deterrent from seeking safe on campus engagement, “student engagement is proven by statistics and outcomes to improve enrollment and retention but also engaged in having a more enriched experience at our university.”
Royce McCandless can be reached at [email protected] or Twitter @roycemccandless