If 90,000 teachers and other school employees in San Diego County were notified that they were eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations, why did only 23,000 sign up for their shots?
That is the question education officials are asking themselves, and the answers are not easy to determine.
The Voluntary Employees Benefits Association, or VEBA, is the agency responsible for making sure everyone in the education industry who wants a coronavirus vaccine gets one. VEBA informed education staff in class K-12 a few weeks ago that they could apply, but the response was lukewarm at best.
“We’re sure people went to their medical providers,” said Laura Josh of VEBA, adding that educators also went to the local pharmacy for their vaccines. “So when you see the VEBA vaccination number, those are the people who went through our actual portal, but we don’t have visibility or consolidated reporting for people who went through channels.”
Martha Garcia, who teaches kindergarten at Las Palmas Elementary School in National City, told NBC7 that she went to a local clinic after learning that she could choose which vaccine she wanted, while continuing to a VEBA-designated which vaccine to take. also offered.
Garcia said she and her husband wanted the Moderna vaccine, so they did not register through the VEBA site.
Garcia said teachers are “ready and willing” to get the vaccine, and questioned the numbers released by VEBA accurately reflect the number of teachers vaccinated.
“There is no accurate way to tell if a primary education educator has been vaccinated with another health care provider,” said Bob Mueller, who is tasked with examining the COVID-19 response from the San Diego County Office of Education.
Mueller said some educators may not want the vaccine, but his main concern is to make sure every education worker can get it.
San Diego County has thousands of doses reserved for educators, but if vaccines go unused, a county representative said, they will be redistributed to those who qualify for them.