SAN ANTONIO - Saint Leo University is now offering the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to all students, faculty, and staff across the state.

They’re hoping to distribute hundreds of vaccines this week. 

“We’re so excited to have our life back on campus,” said student Remounda Rezk.

For Rezk, getting her vaccine will help her feel protected. 

“We have been home for a long time, we haven’t done any activities that we would have been going to do, it was hard,” she said. 

Students, faculty, and staff want a normal fall semester and this campus vaccine clinic is the first step.

“They want to go to athletic events, they want to hang out at Benedicts Coffee House, they want to do what college students do,” said Saint Leo University President Jeff Senese. 

For athletes like Paige Patterson, this means she gets to get back to doing what she loves.

“I’m on the cross country team here and to not worry about it for competitions and stuff like that would be really good. And I’m an international student and obviously I like traveling and stuff, and it would make it a lot easier and everything with the vaccine,” Patterson said.

Faculty and staff have been getting their vaccines by age group.

This time around, 400 shots will be given out Tuesday and another 300 on Thursday.

With a student population of 2,300, there’s more work to do. 

“When the governor opened up, thank God that he did, we figured we’d do our students and their families, and alum and everyone we could before they leave for the semester. Having family there encourages them to come back and get that second shot,” said Senese.

The university plans to host more student vaccine clinics in the fall.