CLEVELAND — About 47% of Ohio’s population or 5.49 million people in Ohio are fully vaccinated.
A group of medical students from Case Western Reserve University is working to bring that percentage up.
Larissa De Souza is in her second year at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
“I’m the first person in my family to even graduate high school,” De Souza said. “I come from a Latin immigrant background and there was a lot of health disparities where I grew up and where I lived.”
Her upbringing inspired her to want to help others.
“So that actually really propelled me to go into medicine and close some of those gaps we have,” she said.
De Souza along with several of her peers have set up a booth at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds to answer general questions about the COVID-19 vaccine.
“We are answering questions, we are talking, we are listening,” De Souza said.
They have also partnered with Metro Health to offer on-site vaccinations at the fairgrounds.
The students were able to help several people make the decision to get vaccinated while visiting the fair.
“It’s like a dream come true. I mean this is why we go into medicine is to help guide people toward the better version of themselves and their best health yet,” she said. “To be able to play a role in getting people to decide and empower them to make the decision to get the vaccine, I couldn’t ask for anything better as a medical student.”
