Schools adjust as teachers sick with COVID vaccine side effects
A spokesman for the state Department of Education said Monday steps are being taken to help avoid the sudden school closures that have occurred due to large numbers of teachers calling out sick with side effects from the COVID vaccine.
Peter Yazbak, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, said school districts are trying to avoid these disruptions through creative scheduling, and health experts maintain that these side effects should not deter anyone from getting the vaccine.
“I can confirm that a few districts have closed individual schools as a result of (side effects from the vaccine),” Yazbak said. “However, our department has also issued guidance for districts to communicate frequently with school staff, students and families the importance of staying out of school when they feel sick, when they are awaiting a test result, or when they are in an isolation or quarantine period.
“In these instances, it would seem that school staff experiencing side effects are doing the responsible thing by staying home, and districts are proactively addressing this issue, including by canceling or moving class to remote following a clinic as well as scheduling clinics near weekends to allow for recovery time if needed.”
While Yazbak did not identify any specific districts, Manchester schools reported a shortage of teachers and bus drivers on Monday following a vaccine clinic for educators was held over the weekend, the Associated Press reported.
In Darien, all classes and activities were canceled Monday at the middle and high schools, along with one elementary school, due to “staff illnesses,” the superintendent said.
Darien teachers were scheduled to receive the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine over the weekend. However, Superintendent Alan Addley did not say whether the illnesses were associated with the vaccines.
Addley did not respond Monday to requests for further clarification.
Last month, the reopening of Stamford schools was delayed when many teachers called out sick due to side effects from the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the district said.
To help avoid these sudden closures, Yazbak said many districts are scheduling vaccination clinics for staff close to the weekend, or planning remote learning for the day after the clinic so educators can recover from any possible side effects.
In Fairfield, some teachers received their second dose of the vaccine last Thursday before schools were closed for the holiday weekend.
“With schools closed for Good Friday on April 2nd, we were able to minimize the impact of teachers needing to call out due to possible side effects,” said Andrea Clark, a spokeswoman for the school district.
However, Clark said the district “did not see any increase in teacher absences” when the town’s health department vaccinated about 1,000 staff members on March 1.
In general, there have been reports of side effects from the various COVID-19 shots, such as headaches, fever, chills and fatigue. With the two-dose PfizerBioNTech and Moderna vaccines, many report more severe side effects with the second dose than the first.
“The immune system has already been kind of tested (by the first shot), so it’s already revved up,” said Dr. Daniel Gottschall, vice president of medical affairs for the Fairfield region of Hartford HealthCare and St. Vincent’s Medical Center
in Bridgeport. “In many ways, it’s a good thing. That means your body is responding and mounting an immune response.”
Of the vaccines, Gottschall and Dr. Gregory Buller, associate chief medical officer and chairman of the department of medicine at Bridgeport Hospital, said the data shows that side effects are slightly more intense with the second dose of Moderna than the Pfizer vaccine.
“If you look at the data originally submitted to the (Food and Drug Administration),
Moderna had slightly higher incidence of ill effects, particularly with the second dose,” Buller said.
But they pointed out the side effects are temporary, and infinitely easier to handle than contracting COVID-19.
“From what I’ve heard, it’s uncomfortable, but it mostly passes in a day or two,” Gottschall said of the side effects.