ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Florida college students are among the groups soon to be eligible to receive coronavirus vaccines after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced Thursday he would lower the age for COVID vaccination eligibility to 18 starting April 5.

Sophomore Maddie Davis is eager to get her vaccination, adding that it's been a tough year taking all of her classes online. 

"It's very individual, kind of feels like I'm teaching myself most of the time," Davis said.

DeSantis’s announcement Thursday was a sign of hope for Davis and others like her.

"I'm super excited about it,” Davis said. “I've been saying since the beginning, I'm going to get vaccinated as soon as I possibly can."

Before that, though, some UCF students are scheduled to present findings from their research on the impacts of COVID on society at next week's virtual UCF Student Research Week.

UCF doctoral student and Valencia College professor Bonnie Cross looked at reactions to mask mandates through a hashtag.

"This hashtag spiked when political figures made comments or had kind of major moments," Cross said.

Meanwhile, senior Victor Blocker is studying how the pandemic has impacted UCF students' romantic relationships.

"I wanted to survey and see what the actual impact is, and I do want to expand this study to a community basis, so we can get a proper representation of the population," Blocker said.

Cross and Blocker are already vaccinated, and are each curious about further research.

"I'm curious what drives people to get the vaccine,” Cross said. “That might be something I continue to research."

Davis said she is looking forward to one day fully enjoying her college experience and learning in classrooms again once vaccinated.

"I think once we can get most of the student population vaccinated, we'll really be able to go back to having sports and events, other than just having classes," Davis said.