With cases of COVID-19 surging due to the Omicron variant, University of the Pacific is once again stepping up to ensure ample access to vaccines. 

The university is scheduling six new clinics on its Stockton campus in addition to weekly clinics in San Francisco, continuing its role as a community leader in the ongoing battle against the global pandemic.

Pacific began offering COVID-19 vaccines in January 2021. To date there have been:

•    43 clinics on the San Francisco campus with 4,509 COVID-19 vaccines distributed
•    43 clinics on the campuses in Sacramento and Stockton with 8,987 COVID-19 vaccines and 929 influenza vaccines distributed

“It attests to the commitment we have to serve in our community,” said Maria Pallavicini, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and co-chair of Pacific’s COVID-19 Council. “It also provides us outstanding experiential learning for all of our pharmacy students.”

Under the direction of Veronica Bandy, clinical professor and coordinator for the Sacramento Region for the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy, students run the clinics and administer vaccines to patients. While some get academic credit for volunteering, most have completed their requirements and want to help. 

“They still come and volunteer because they feel as a health care provider, it's really important for them to do their part to help with the pandemic efforts and the vaccination efforts,” said Bandy.

Pacific’s clinics are open to anyone in the community for first or second doses of COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots.

“There are still low numbers of high school and adolescent children even fully vaccinated in our counties, so we decided to hold two clinics per month (in Stockton) to help—number one with boosters, but also to help with the surge,” said Bandy.

“And for those people who were previously vaccine hesitant, maybe they'll bring their adolescent children as well as their younger children in to get vaccinated,” Bandy said. 

Pacific can administer COVID-19 vaccines to children as young as five. 

Vaccine clinics will take place on the Stockton campus Jan. 23, Jan. 29, Feb. 12, Feb. 19, March 12 and March 19 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in parking lot 9, which is behind the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy on Brookside Road. Face masks are required even though the clinic is outdoors.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be available and can be administered as a booster even to people who received a different brand initially.

“We can mix and match now,” said Bandy. “So if they previously had Johnson and Johnson or they previously had Moderna, they can receive Pfizer as their booster dose as long as it's been five months from their Moderna dose and two months from their J&J.”

Influenza vaccines are also available at clinics on the Stockton campus. 

COVID-19 vaccines can be obtained on the San Francisco campus at the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry every Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are available on the San Francisco campus. 

As new vaccination clinics are scheduled, they will be updated here. Appointments can be made on California’s My Turn website.