The COVID-19 booster shot is safe and effective at preventing severe cases of the omicron variant.

With vaccine rollout underway in Missouri, freshman Olivia Poolos talks to Senior News Editor junior Em McPhie and freshman Charlotte Kramon about Washington University students who’ve taken long road trips to secure extra doses or nabbed their shots before becoming eligible.

Quick, easy, painless. That is how freshman Hailey Weiss described her experience getting the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The shot was so painless that at first, she wasn’t even sure that she got it, the only thing assuring her being the sight of blood under her bandage.