{"title":"Implementation of an onboard COVID-19 vaccination programme: a university partnership to vaccinate seafarers.","authors":"Tracey L Taylor, Denise Maguire, Marcia Johansson","doi":"10.5603/IMH.2022.0009","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused many seafarers to be stranded on their ships due to lack of access to a vaccine and fear of contracting the COVID-19 virus limiting their ability to work on the ship. Once COVID-19 vaccinations were available, a lack of access to the vaccine continued to exist in the underserved seafarer population. This lack of access to the COVID-19 vaccine meant that seafarers were sometimes unable to leave their ships for months beyond their original contracts.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>The University of South Florida (USF) College of Nursing collaborated with the USF Morsani Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy in the development and implementation of an onboard COVID-19 vaccination programme at the request of the Port of Tampa Ministries.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In 6 months, 1237 seafarers from 30 countries and 5 continents received the COVID-19 vaccination as a result of this programme.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Partnership between a commercial port and a College of Nursing at a local university enabled hundreds of seafarers to be vaccinated against COVID-19. This programme serves as a model for industry and academic partnerships that can have a global impact on health and wellness.</p>","PeriodicalId":45964,"journal":{"name":"International Maritime Health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Maritime Health","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5603/IMH.2022.0009","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused many seafarers to be stranded on their ships due to lack of access to a vaccine and fear of contracting the COVID-19 virus limiting their ability to work on the ship. Once COVID-19 vaccinations were available, a lack of access to the vaccine continued to exist in the underserved seafarer population. This lack of access to the COVID-19 vaccine meant that seafarers were sometimes unable to leave their ships for months beyond their original contracts.
Materials and methods: The University of South Florida (USF) College of Nursing collaborated with the USF Morsani Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy in the development and implementation of an onboard COVID-19 vaccination programme at the request of the Port of Tampa Ministries.
Results: In 6 months, 1237 seafarers from 30 countries and 5 continents received the COVID-19 vaccination as a result of this programme.
Conclusions: Partnership between a commercial port and a College of Nursing at a local university enabled hundreds of seafarers to be vaccinated against COVID-19. This programme serves as a model for industry and academic partnerships that can have a global impact on health and wellness.