APS wants 20,000 youths vaccinated

District plans events to push students ages 16 and over to get inoculations

Albuquerque Public Schools officials say 50 students have received shots as part of a pilot program to promote vaccinations for teenagers.

All state residents age 16 and up became eligible to be vaccinated last week.

The school district plans to encourage students to go to clinics by offering special events starting next week, tapping into its mailing lists and social media, and collaborating with city health officials by continuing to offer extra space for vaccination clinics.

The first set of shots were given in a district training facility where teachers began receiving vaccinations in December. The pilot program targeted students at Eldorado High School, which was shut down by a recent outbreak.

“We started with a small drive for Eldorado, and then we are pushing out to the larger community next week starting Wednesday, ready to get 20,000 youth in the city vaccinated, in the next couple of weeks,” APS Chief Operations Officer Gabriella Duran Blakey said.

Albuquerque Public Schools is one of the largest school districts in the country and includes more than one in five K-12 students in New Mexico.

The vaccination effort follows a push to get educators vaccinated last month. Blakely says around 15% of APS staffers declined vaccinations, while 85% have received them.

“We didn’t think we’d be at this point. We’re really lucky in New Mexico that we have this opportunity to have vaccines for our community, including our youth,” she said.

Parents are required to attend the vaccination clinics to sign release forms for 16- or 17-year-olds.

Eldorado was closed to in-person learning Tues

day after four positive COVID-19 test results. It was the first to be ordered closed since April 6, when the vast majority of New Mexico’s schools opened to fulltime in-person learning.

Three more schools, in Bloomfield and Socorro, announced voluntary closures Wednesday after outbreaks that would have required widespread quarantines.

Many students who attend in person this school year will have been in the physical classroom for only about a month.

Having a student population with higher immunity could increase the viability of graduation celebrations, extended learning programs and summer school.

Blakey said it’s important for all community members to get vaccinated. She said she hopes students will get themselves protection from the virus regardless of their plans, such as working a summer job or going off to college.

While some experts suggest that herd immunity is reached when around 70% of people have built up natural antibodies or have been vaccinated, there is no universally accepted rate.