CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Austin Peay State University officials expect to administer up to 25,000 COVID-19 vaccinations in the coming months to university students, employees and their families.

Additionally, Austin Peay plans to open a new clinical laboratory Jan. 4 on campus that will help university healthcare workers deliver quicker, more accurate COVID-19 testing and results, according to a release sent by the university..

The news comes as the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified across the country and in Tennessee, where the state is averaging more than 8,000 infections and 70 deaths per day.

 

Vaccinating up to 25,000 people

Austin Peay will be one of the vaccination pods in Montgomery County.

“We would not only vaccinate the Austin Peay affiliates – the students, staff and faculty – but we would also be responsible for vaccinating their family members,” said Dr. Heather Phillips, director of the university’s new clinical laboratory, on Thursday.

Phillips’ lab has an “ultra-freeze” freezer, which is necessary to hold Pfizer’s vaccine.

Phillips is hiring nursing staff and developing a schedule to support the effort, “vaccinating on the upward end as many as 25,000 individuals in the coming months.”

 

Opening a lab for on-campus testing, results

Phillips has set up a SARS-CoV-2 testing lab at Boyd Health Services on campus to perform PCR testing. PCR (nasal swab) testing is the gold standard of novel coronavirus detection, said Phillips.

“The PCR method is where we’re looking for a little, unique snippet of RNA,” Phillips said. “If (a patient) has that little snippet that tells me they have the virus.

“This method is as close to 100% accurate as science will allow us to get, 99.999% accurate,” she added.

“An in-house lab allows us to process test samples without having to ship them, handle them with care and thereby reduce error, and ultimately share the results much more rapidly, even same day,” said Dr. Jeff Rutter, director of Boyd Health Services. “All these things matter a great deal in the midst of a pandemic.”

 

Mitigating the risk of the virus spreading

According to Phillips, the new lab needs Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments certification to open, and Phillips expects that to happen by the planned Jan. 4 open date.

“We’re going to hit the ground running,” Phillips said. “I already have between 500 and 600 people scheduled for that week.”

Until then, Austin Peay will provide the current COVID-19 testing 7 a.m.-noon every weekday except on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Austin Peay has administered more than 5,600 COVID-19 tests so far this fall.