When’s the last time you were in the Old Bookstore in the Main Building? Did you happen to notice a different type of vending machine down there? If you didn’t, keep reading.
The Vassar Student Association, Health Services, and Health Promotion and Education installed new vending machines that are completely FREE. This vending machine is an initiative designed to increase access to no-cost health and wellness supplies. Using your Vassar ID card you can obtain free pregnancy tests, plan Bs, emergency contraceptives, face masks, fentanyl testing strips, and painkillers. The VSafe machine not only increases healthcare access on Vassar’s campus, it also allows students to receive these supplies discreetly.
Maxwell Bergman ’25 is a member of the Vassar Student Association (VSA) during the public health initiatives planning phases and installing VSafe. This initiative dates back two years with plans for more substantial healthcare access on campus, with its main goals to be free and accessible access to wellness supplies. The vending machine is part of a larger picture towards increased accessibility to expensive products such as Plan B and provides more resources around healthcare education. There are informational scannable QR codes that students can use to learn more about the products. The machines are checked twice a week and opportunities to support it arise under the VSA Director of Services as a work study job where students can be in charge of refilling the machine.
The main features of VSafe were centered around the Plab Bs. Plan B is hormonal birth control that is known as “the morning-after pill.” It can be taken up to 72 hours after unprotected sex, but is more effective the sooner it is taken. Research has found that it is “moderately effective” when taken within 72 to 120 hours after unprotected sex. Plan B has a hormone called levonorgestrel that mimics progesterone that can block or prevent ovulations.
More important things to note are the implication of weight onto the effectiveness of BMI, studies show that a BMI over 30 or weigh more than 155 pounds, could decrease the effectiveness of birth control. Plan B can also expire, it has a shelf life of four years, however this shelf life isn’t dangerous instead it is just less effective. Hence, expired pill packs can still be taken.
Before taking Plan B it is important to know of the possible side effects that it can cause ranging from irregular periods, headaches, cramps, nausea, dizziness, and more. If your period is significantly late it is recommended you take a pregnancy test that VSafe provides.
Please check with your gynecologist, healthcare professionals, and doctors, when regarding contraception options. VSafe will be around in the Old Bookstore for everyone, so I hope you utilize it. Stay safe!