WACO, TX — Distributing thousands of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines daily, nursing students on the cusp of graduation work to vaccinate their community.
At the frontlines 24 Baylor nursing students pile into a charter bus each day in Dallas, where the Baylor Nursing School is located, and drive to Waco to stand for hours in their soon-to-be alma mater's stadium parking lot vaccinating thousands of people across McLennan County.
"It's indescribable really, I never pictured myself spending my senior year giving COVID shots to people because of a pandemic that's taken over the world," said Katie Larson, a student in her last semester of nursing school.
"What better way to teach public health population health nursing than to be present and administering the COVID 19 vaccines," said faculty Barbara Devitt with the Baylor Nursing School.
"This is something the world has never seen at least in our generation," exclaimed Devitt.
Vaccinating an estimated 1,600 people in McLennan County each day at the McLane Stadium clinic, the students reflect on what moments like this may mean historically in hindsight.
"Doing this feels like moving forward and hopefully we can put COVID behind us" said Brennen Loutgen, in his last semester of nursing school.
"They're going to be able to tell their children, their grandchildren and their children's children how they were a part of this solution to the pandemic," said Devitt.
"I just love the gratitude they are just so grateful, and it makes my heart so happy," said Larson.
McLane Stadium will continue to be a vaccine hub in the weeks to come.
