K-12 employees can start vaccinating in January. These are some frequently asked questions and answers about the process.
(Courtesy University of Utah Health) University of Utah Health is unpacking their COVID-19 vaccines, preparing doses, and giving vaccinations to primary care health workers on Tuesday, Dec.15, 2020.
Their recordings are expected to start in January. “The excitement here was pretty high,” added Canyons School District spokesman Jeff Haney. “The interest of our employees is so great.”
Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about how the vaccine will be given to K-12 personnel in the coming weeks.
Which employees at a school can be vaccinated?
All school staff, including part-time staff, can receive the COVID-19 vaccine. It’s not just limited to the 27,000 teachers in the state.
“It includes administrators, bus drivers, guards, lunch workers, para professionals and so on,” Haney noted. Playground tools are also included, as are most of the substitutes that regularly work in schools.
The state has set aside enough vaccine for any K-12 employee who would want one. In total, there are approximately 70,000 eligible school personnel in the state, according to the Utah Board of Education.
To verify employment, staff are asked to bring a valid ID. The only people not included are volunteers who are not paid by a school for their work.
What is the timeline for my district?
Utah has already begun to vaccinate health workers who come into contact with COVID-19 patients, expects to begin vaccinating staff and residents in long-term care facilities this week, and then will provide doses to caregivers working outside the hospital.
Then the county’s health departments – not the state – will largely administer vaccinations for school staff. Thus, the dates for immunization vary depending on the location.
However, most K-12 workers can expect to receive a first dose of vaccine sometime around mid-January, said Tom Hudachko, spokesman for the Utah Department of Health. The second dose will come in early February.
“With fingers crossed, everything will be fine,” said spokesman Yándary Chatwin.
Elsewhere in Salt Lake County, Granite School District will host a vaccination clinic Jan. 15, with makeup day Jan. 23. Canyons School District is scheduled for January 15th and can include January 16th if required. And Murray School District colored January 14 and 15.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jennifer Frederick, a teacher at Mount Jordan Middle School in Sandy, conducts a discussion in her Utah study class on Wednesday, December 15, 2020.
Jordan School District is still in the process of setting up for a time and will have more information for employees after their winter break, said spokesman Sandy Riesgraf.
Hudachko said the data is preliminary as the state calculates how many doses of the vaccine it will have. But any district can start planning. And most have sent information to their employees about when the administration is expected to take place.
Will the state have enough vaccine to give to school employees?
The promised vaccine supply varies a bit from week to week, Hudachko said. But based on current estimates, the state is comfortable with the plan’s progress.
The state has planned enough vaccines for school staff – including the necessary second dose that comes about three weeks after the first.
Charla Haley, also a state health service spokesman, said officials are careful and calculated with the doses. If they don’t have enough to give a second dose, it would be “a shame” to give someone only the first.
“All of this involves a lot of logistics,” she said. The first dose is about 70% effective. A week after the second dose is administered, it jumps to 90-95%.
Currently, school districts are examining their employees to see who wants the photos. That has helped the state budget. Granite School District, for example, has a total of about 9,000 employees, said spokesman Ben Horsley. So far, 3,200 have signed up.
Murray plans to vaccinate about half of its 1,000 staff. However, Canyons has seen 3,900 filings – that’s about 85% of the workforce.
Should a school worker be vaccinated?
No. Public school employees don’t need to get the vaccine if they don’t want it. “And we certainly don’t expect everyone to do that,” said Murray School District spokesman Doug Perry.
However, private schools may make it mandatory.
Does a parent or student know if their teacher has been vaccinated?
No. Hudachko said a teacher could “share that information if they want.” But the state will not provide it due to privacy requirements.
Some parents have said they would like to know if their children’s teachers have been vaccinated so they can decide whether or not to personally send a child back to school.
Will the school vaccines take away doses from primary care health workers?
(Photo courtesy of University of Utah Health) Christy Mulder, a nurse in the medical intensive care unit at the University of Utah Health, will receive the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, December 15, 2020. She is believed to be the first person in Utah who receive the vaccine.
“We want to make sure our students go to school to learn,” said Herbert. “This will help minimize disruption to families at home.”
The plan has the backing of the Utah Education Association, the largest teachers’ union in the state.
Are the vaccines administered at school?
This again depends on the district. Many plan to enlist nurses to administer the vaccine in schools or district buildings so that staff can be easily immunized. For example, in Granite School District, there are ten locations, including all eight high schools and two other locations.
The provisional day to get the vaccine there is a Friday, the day the district uses for distance learning. Horsley said teachers and staff will then have the flexibility to receive the vaccine without having to spend their personal time. It takes about two minutes to get the shot, Horsley added.
In Murray School District, shots are administered at Hillcrest Junior High. And in Canyons it will be at Mount Jordan Middle School. Both will arrange for staff to come at agreed times based on alphabetical order by last name.
All Salt Lake County counties will contract with Community Nursing Services, who will provide personnel to administer the vaccines, said Nicholas Rupp, spokesman for the regional health department. The nonprofit has run student vaccination clinics for years.
Each district is expected to communicate with its staff about logistics. For example, other districts will vaccinate all of their paramedics and paramedics first and then they will administer the vaccines to teachers, Haley said.
In more rural areas of the state, distance makes it more difficult than along the Wasatch Front. Haley said some teachers there have to drive 100 miles to get a vaccine.
“There are so many moving pieces,” she acknowledged. “It’s kind of all over the board.”
What about workers who can’t make it during their district’s time?
Rupp said the county’s health department will have a clinic after the schools administer their first vaccines for anyone who couldn’t make it. They only need to bring an employee certificate. “We will be that safety net,” he noted.
What about teachers who only teach online?
They can also sign up for a vaccine. The state has not imposed any restrictions on the school staff based on how classes are taught.
Are private schools included? What about charters?
Yes. Private and charter school administrators will work with the local health department to schedule times for staff vaccinations. Some private schools partner with nearby districts to do them on the same day and location to share resources. That is happening with Murray School District and Mount Vernon Academy.
Yes. All school staff can be immunized at no cost of their own. They are asked to bring an insurance card if they have one, but there is no charge, Horsley added.
“Teachers are essential in the midst of this pandemic,” he noted. “We want to do everything we can to help them get a vaccine if they want to.”
Some of that is by design because the older people are, the more serious they can become from the coronavirus. Unlike their teachers, children rarely develop serious complications.