When checking his Bradley email on the afternoon of April 9, junior Andrew Terlecki was not expecting to find anything significant in his inbox.

But, after refreshing his email, Terlecki received an email that he was extremely surprised to see.

It was a message from University Communications saying that Bradley students, staff, faculty, and their family members 18 and older had the opportunity to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on-campus at the Markin Center.

The Markin Center performance court became a vaccination site for students on April 12 and 13, thanks to a gift of 1,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the Peoria City/County Health Department.

Terlecki registered immediately after seeing that email and was one of 411 people on April 12 to get their first dose of the Moderna vaccine. 

With the 411 people signing up to get vaccinated on Monday, the university still needed dose savers to utilize the remaining doses of the vaccine. Tuesday’s data has not been released yet.

Dose savers were needed on both days and were open to all Bradley faculty, students and staff that did not make an appointment through the email. 

For Terlecki, getting vaccinated was all about the bigger picture at home.

“I got the vaccine so that not only I could feel safe, but for my peers and anyone else around me to feel safe as well,” Terlecki said.

Once he made his appointment, the rest of the process of getting vaccinated at the Markin Center Bradley went smoothly for Terlecki.

After receiving his first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, Terlecki felt a bit sore at the injection site a few hours later and into the next day but is now pain-free.

Without having a car on campus, the Bradley vaccine clinics provided Terlecki an opportunity to get inoculated without having to go to any clinics or pharmacies outside of the Hilltop.

“I didn’t imagine myself getting it here,” Terlecki said. “It was a quick and easy process, with no hiccups.”