Nursing students from Thompson Rivers University will get some real world, hands on training as the B.C. Government begins to take appointments to start vaccinating people against COVID-19.

TRU nursing instructor, Steve Ross, says the government has reached out to the University for help, adding students will be at both mass vaccination centres in Kamloops when they open up to the general public next month.

“Interior Health reached out to us a couple of weeks ago and asked if we could supply or have some students participate in the phase two mass clinics that are coming up at TCC and McArthur Island,” he said on the NL Morning News.

Ross says where the students go will depend on how far along they are in the program.

“We’re going to have many of our first year students help with traffic controls at those particular sites, so you’ll see us there,” he said.

“We also we have one clinical group that’s engaged currently with public health and they’ve been asked to help with vaccinations so that particular group will be helping out with the vaccinations themselves so we’re pretty excited about that.”

Seniors over the age of 90 and Indigenous people over 65 were able to book appointments as of today. Those born in 1936 and earlier can start calling on March 15 and those born in 1941 or earlier can start to schedule their shots on March 22.

As it stands, one of the two Kamloops vaccination clinic locations – at the MacArthur Island Sports Centre – will begin operation next week. A second location at the Tournament Capital Centre will open on March 22.

The mass vaccine clinics will get underway on April 12, beginning with people between the age of 75 to 79.