Starting this week, 60 Elmhurst University nursing students— the entire senior class—will join the DuPage County Health Department’s COVID-19 vaccination team.

The students, who began their orientation today (Feb. 8), will help administer COVID-19 vaccinations, monitor and educate patients, and perform other tasks as the Health Department prepares to significantly expand its community vaccination clinic.

The students also will be fulfilling part of their clinical rotation requirement for a class on community and public health nursing. Working in groups of four to 10 over multiple shifts, the students will be part of the DuPage County vaccination team until they graduate from Elmhurst in May.

Their instructor, Laura Minarich, who also is a family nurse practitioner, says her students are eager to get started.

“It’s every nurse’s dream to help put an end to something like this pandemic,” she said. “This is an incredible opportunity for our students, a time when they can really make a difference.”