COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Beginning next week, DeWine says Ohio is going to try to vaccinate every college student in the state by taking the Johnson & Johnson shot onto campuses.

Governor Mike DeWine said that students are carriers of the COVID-19 virus because they are sociable, and that vaccinating them will help get ahead of the spread.

“Evidence clearly shows they are significant carriers because of their interactions with other people,” the governor said. “That age group interacts more, has more socialization, movement, contacts. It’s a strategic move to vaccinate them on campus before they get out in early May and scatter throughout the country.”

DeWine said in his Thursday press conference that with most colleges out around May 1, there is a limited period to get them vaccinated.

“In the not too distant future we will be looking at a situation when our goal will really switch,” DeWine said. “We have an obligation and imperative to vaccinate people as quickly as we can and to increase the vaccination rate. That’s one of the reasons why we are going to create separate pods and we are working with our universities.”

Dewine doesn’t foresee that every college’s vaccination program will be completed by the end of next week, but he wants to get started with the single-shot dose. Doctors believe that more students will get the vaccine if they can get it at the same time as their peers, he concluded.