Dutchess County, WMCHealth, and Marist College Announce Vaccination Program for Marist Students

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (April 8, 2021) —Today Dutchess County, WMCHealth, and Marist College announced the launch of a vaccine program for Marist students. The program will begin with the administration of 500 doses of the Moderna vaccine on Tuesday, April 13^th, at the Marist facility at 51 Fulton Street, contiguous to campus.  New York State is providing additional vaccine allocation to Dutchess County to ensure college students have access to vaccine.

This program, which will expand in the following weeks, will help vaccinate the newly-eligible population of adults over the age of 16 in New York.  In addition, the College and its partners hope to be able to expand the use of the facility for additional vaccinations for the wider community as more doses become available.  

According to Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, "This program is a pilot we hope to use to accelerate the distribution of vaccines for college students.  We are very pleased to work with Marist College on this effort, as well as with the other colleges in the county.  We are grateful to all the various partners who have stepped up to help in our mission of getting a shot into the arm of every person who wants to be vaccinated."  

WMCHealth President and CEO Michael Israel noted, "WMCHealth is responsible for managing more than 1,000,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to date throughout the Hudson Valley.  We are partnering with hundreds of local organizations to ensure the efficient and equitable vaccination of our community, and Marist has been one of our best partners in that work.  With four mass vaccinations sites, vaccination programs on all of our hospital campuses, and a multitude of pop-up sites, and more to come, these partnerships are critical."  Last month, Marist made its facilities available to New York State to serve as a pop-up vaccination site administered by WMCHealth. During the six-day event, 3,500 people were vaccinated.  

"The College has been working hand-in-hand with the County and WMCHealth throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and we are pleased to be able to continue to develop that partnership for the benefit of our students and our community," said Marist Executive Vice President Geoff Brackett. "Vaccination is critical is stopping the spread of this virus and we are so pleased to be able to offer this on-campus opportunity to our students."