At the University of Missouri-Kansas City, 四所健康科学校区的学生一直在忙于COVID-19疫苗接种工作, volunteering thousands of hours of service.

医学院三年级学生尼基·塞拉吉(Nikki Seraji)说，她认识到护士和药剂师往往在实际接种疫苗的工作中首当其冲. So, when Stefanie Ellison, M.D., UMKC School of Medicine associate dean for learning initiatives, asked for medical student volunteers to become certified vaccinators, Seraji jumped at the opportunity.

“我正在学习医学领域，并将以此为生，我觉得我帮不上什么忙,” she said. “当志愿者(作为疫苗接种员)的机会在1月中旬出现时, I wanted to take advantage.” 

埃里森说，从一年级到六年级的66名堪萨斯大学医学院学生已经接受了接种疫苗的培训和认证. 学生们每天在杜鲁门医疗中心位于大学卫生楼的COVID-19疫苗接种中心接种疫苗. They’ve helped with the School of Pharmacy’s campus vaccine clinic, assisted in vaccination events at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, the Kansas City Zoo, Hallmark and the Missouri Cerner campus among other events and clinics.

At the school’s new St. Joseph Campus, Steve Waldman, M.D., campus dean, 他说，他所有的学生都获得了疫苗接种员的认证，并在圣. Joseph Mosaic Life Care vaccination center. 他说，许多人还参加了其他社区疫苗接种外展活动.

埃里森说，她每天都在努力与医学院合作，在堪萨斯城各地开展疫苗诊所和活动.

“Our students are so wonderful that when TMC has a busy day, 我可以发邮件或发短信给我们的学生，让他们在紧要关头帮忙，三到五个学生会来帮忙,” she said.

药学院的学生在课程的第二年接受了接种疫苗的培训和认证. As of mid-March, pharmacy students and faculty had volunteered 4,400 volunteer hours to administer more than 17,500 doses of vaccines at 36 events throughout the state.

Jane Beyer, a third-year pharmacy student, 她说，去年12月，一旦有了COVID疫苗，她就开始帮助管理疫苗.

她说:“作为学生药剂师，我们能够走出去，真正帮助社区，成为解决COVID-19问题的一部分，这令人兴奋。. “成为堪萨斯城疫苗工作的一部分是一种非常有益的感觉.”

医学院学生塞拉吉也有同样的想法，她承认自己在学习注射疫苗时有点焦虑. 在训练过她的护士的帮助下，她很快就适应了. 现在，只要上课时间允许，她每周至少自愿做一次疫苗接种员.

“当我获得认证的时候，我确实很焦虑，但我第一次独自做了20到30次(注射)，你会养成一种习惯,” she said. “I’m trying to think how many that I’ve vaccinated. I don’t know but it’s definitely more than 80 or 90.”

Next door on the UMKC Health Sciences campus, 当疫苗接种工作成为她临床轮转的一项选择时，护理专业的学生Ciera Ayala也参与了进来. 事实上，她已经参加了八次疫苗接种活动，其中大部分是在杜鲁门.  

When she was vaccinated, Ayala said, she felt relief and “like there was a light at the end of the tunnel.现在，她很高兴与她接种的所有人分享这种感觉.  

“I find it very gratifying,” Ayala said. “I got to be a part of history, 能成为结束这场大流行的努力的一部分，感觉真的很好. It was also relieving, but also a little overwhelming, 那时我们会有数百人排好几个小时的队准备接种疫苗. It makes me happy that people are trusting in science!” 

Ayala doesn’t remember any particular vaccine recipients, but she said, “it just felt really good when people were appreciative of our efforts. 

“Health care workers don’t often get the recognition that is deserved, so when people recognized how hard we were working, it felt amazing.”

From the School of Dentistry, 119名三年级和四年级学生在4月初接受培训后，加强了学生接种员的队伍. 他们已经知道如何进行麻醉牙科病人所需的更复杂的注射，但必须学习更快的疫苗技术.

They were trained by Meghan Wendland, D.D.S., M.P.H., an assistant professor in the dental school, with help from faculty at the School of Nursing and Health Studies. 他们很快就加入了杜鲁门大学和UMKC同学的活动.

One dental student, Tiara Fry, said she was “a little nervous” the first few times she gave the shot, “but once I got comfortable with it, it was great! 在大流行期间成为减少病毒传播的一部分，感觉很神奇.”

弗莱说，她同情那些持怀疑态度或害怕的人，但希望分享她接种疫苗后的解脱感.

她说:“我知道，尽我所能保护自己和周围的人是一个伟大的目标。. “I felt for those who were extremely afraid of needles. Many would tell me right before I gave the injection, so I tried my best to make them feel as comfortable as possible.”

拜尔说，参与疫苗工作使她成为朋友和家人的宝贵资源, 帮助他们了解最新信息和疫苗供应情况.

“有趣的是，人们对接种疫苗有很多不同的反应，”她说. “There's kind of a split. 有些人，我想，觉得有义务接种疫苗，有点紧张. 但也有一半人在接种疫苗后只是松了一口气. They're wanting to protect themselves and also all their loved ones.”

拜尔估计，自去年12月以来，她已经参加了至少10个疫苗诊所，她只希望自己有时间做更多的事情. 她说，在她参加的一次大型活动中，有800多人接种了疫苗.

“We wish we could be there all the time helping,” she said. “在学校，你很难把所有的时间都花在外出接种疫苗上. 如果没有所有的志愿者，谁知道我们在疫苗推广计划中会走到哪一步.”