By Ame Phitwong
The Health Center received a new refrigerator Tuesday and will soon be able to administer vaccinations again, but is awaiting the arrival of the medicines. Since the end of last semester, the Health Center stopped offering vaccines for students due to a broken refrigerator. Students in need of a vaccination had to go to local clinics to receive shots.
"It was quite spendy," Paul Myers, director of the Health Center, said. In total, the Health Center lost approximately $1,200. This money came from the Health Center budget.
Myers explained that the electronic temperature monitor on the original vaccination refrigerator began to malfunction toward the end of last semester. The Health Center did not want to risk the possibility of administering spoiled vaccinations, so the vaccines were all thrown out.
"This is a very serious problem from our perspective," Myers said. "Vaccinations are a big service that we offer. It's a big inconvenience."
Tim Crump, a nurse practitioner at the Health Center, said the biggest clientele for the vaccinations are nursing students who need to be cleared before attending clinical rotations. Also, international students often need vaccinations but Crump said fortunately most of them got the needed vaccines at the beginning of the school year. Crump said that at the time, a lot of students were getting ready to travel overseas and needed to be vaccinated but had to be referred elsewhere.
Crump said the new refrigerator will be stocked with vaccines by the end of this week or early next week. He said the Health Center made a rough estimate of the amount needed and that a new order for vaccines is made every couple of months.
"You don't want to order a year supply because you never know if there's going to be a power outage," Crump said.
The tossed vaccinations included vaccines for measles, the flu, meningococcal, meningitis, hepatitis and Gardasil. The average measles vaccination costs around $45 and Gardasil ranges from $300 to $500.
The old refrigerator cost $350. This time, the Center decided to invest between $750 and $800 on a new higher-quality appliance that had built-in temperature control.
