Native American Program

SOU Native American Program to co-host vaccination clinics

Southern Oregon University’s Native American Program is partnering with the local Natives of One Wind Indigenous Alliance to offer free COVID-19 vaccination clinics in February and March for anyone 5 years of age or older, and currently eligible for shots or boosters. There will even be free dinners for participants.

The clinics will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. this Friday, Feb. 11, and again on Friday, March 11, in Parking Lot 36, across South Mountain Avenue from the SOU Music Building.

Each clinic will offer vaccinations and boosters from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, supplied by the Oregon Health Authority. Dinners at this month’s event will be from the Tacos de Volada Food Truck, and paid for by the OHA and other involved organizations.

The vaccination project came together after the OHA reached out to SOU’s Native American Programs – which includes the Native American Studies program, Native American Student Union, Native Nation Liaison, Native American Advisory Council, Collins Collection, First Nations Collection and Konaway Nika Tillicum. Native American Programs then partnered with the Natives of One Wind Indigenous Alliance, which is itself a collaboration of the Red Earth Descendants and the UNETE Center for Farm Worker Advocacy.

Vaccines will be available for SOU students, employees and community members – anyone eligible for vaccination or booster shots. The free dinners are intended as a means of encouraging vaccination and reaching underserved populations with health information.

Those with questions about the clinics can contact Brook Colley, chair of SOU’s Native American Studies program, at colleyb@sou.edu.