BATON ROUGE - As college campuses across the nation wrestle with the choice of making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for students or leaving it up to the individual, two of south Louisiana's most prominent universities have not announced a decision to make the shots mandatory.

But, what both Louisiana State University and Southern University have announced are their intentions to make as many vaccinations available to the public as possible.

The universities plan to oversee the roll out of a combined total of more than 3,000 vaccination shots. 

While LSU plans to administer 1,100 doses to staff and student workers, Southern will make more than 2,000 Moderna vaccine shots to eligible members of the public. 

Southern is partnering with Ochsner Baton Rouge to make these vaccines available to the public on Saturday, March 27 by means of a north Baton Rouge event.

Anette Martijn, an Ochsner Baton Rouge representative, spoke with WBRZ about the work that went into setting up the weekend event, saying, "Doing a drive-thru is not as easy as you would think that it is. We definitely have to make sure that the internet is up to par, also that the traffic flow is going to work for people."

"But also that it is accessible," Martijn continued. "We don't want anything that is too complex because then people wouldn't come. We want make sure that it's as convenient as possible for the patients."

The event will take place at Southern University's F.G. Clark Activity Center, which is located at 801 Harding Boulevard.

Officials say the vaccinations provided will be free and open to all eligible members of the public, though appointments are required.

Anyone wishing to participate as a patient should schedule an appointment by calling 844-888-2772 or by visiting MyOchsner.com online. 

The all-day event begins at 9 a.m., and is expected to end at 4 p.m.

Click here for additional information on where eligible Louisiana residents can receive COVID-19 vaccinations.