In normal circumstances dental students would be going about their day attending lectures or filling a cavity but these days they find themselves on the frontline in the fight against COVID-19.
Since February, around 80 staff and students from the Faculty of Dental Surgery have volunteered to administer the vaccines at the University of Malta.
Malta’s vaccination drive has been a top priority for the country, with over 430,508 doses administered so far and 147,667 people being fully vaccinated.
“Despite having daily dental clinical practice, lectures and upcoming exams, our students found the time to volunteer and give back to our country,” Nikolai Attard told Times of Malta.
Attard, the Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery, was approached by the Mater Dei Hospital administration in February and asked whether the faculty could help with the administration of the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out.
“I prepared a google sheet to see which students would be interested to volunteer and, in just a few hours, the students filled in six weeks of volunteer time.”
The staff and students face long days, balancing their time between lectures, dental clinics and administering the vaccine but all are proud and happy to be part of the nation-wide vaccination drive.
“Regardless of what day it is, weekends or even public holidays, the students are here, constantly on the go and working together as a team,” he said.
In what was previously a lecture room, a group of dental students, along with a senior nurse, are busy working their way preparing and checking the doses of the vaccine.
One student transfers and mixes the vaccine from the vial into the syringe, while another changes the needle which will be used on the patient.
Other students will be in the Gateway Hall, which has now been transformed into the vaccination centre, giving the vaccine jab.
Apart from volunteering at the university vaccine centre, or as Attard calls it “the home base”, the students also volunteer at other vaccination centres.
Numbers speak for themselves, and everyone should be taking the vaccine
In a typical day, a student could start his/her day at the university, then be sent to help at the MCAST vaccination centres in Paola and Naxxar and even travel to Gozo to help in the centre in Victoria.
“Last Saturday, the team crossed the channel and we hit a record of 1,596 vaccinations in a day,” he said.
When asked how many vaccines are prepared and administered daily, Attard said that, on average, the frontliners see around 1,200 people a day.
He recounted the day when the vaccine was made available for the over 30s group and hundreds queued at the university.
A student preparing the vaccines.“On that Wednesday, we vaccinated over 2,200 people and, at a point, we ran out of all our stock, so we work around the clock and constantly on the go.”
Attard said that the students were ready and on ‘the go’ from the very start and had experience of dealing with busy crowds before.
Very keen to volunteer
“As part of the course, all students must participate in the mobile dental unit van and are used to coordinating such large events and working as a team.”
The students said that they were very keen to volunteer and were not hesitant at all. They said that, after a few days of training, they began volunteering at the centre straightaway.
Fourth year student Philippa Agius said it is satisfying to help and see the numbers go down.
“The numbers speak for themselves and everyone should be taking the vaccine... when you have the opportunity to register, do so and we will see you here,” she said.
“Whatever we can do to help, we will do so,” fifth year student Lara Camilleri said.
“It’s been a difficult year but we will do what we can and later on get to look back and say I was part of all this.”
All students agreed that the injections they administer as dentists are more difficult.
“Giving the COVID vaccine is much easier than giving a vaccine in the mouth – less nerves and no tongue,” one student said.
“As a dentist you must give an injection in a very constrained environment.”