CCSD’S vaccination drive begins next week

While some Clark County School District educators have already received COVID-19 vaccinations, the drive to inoculate district employees is expected to officially launch on Monday.

A memo sent to employees Tuesday by Chief Human Resources Officer Nadine Jones announcing the drive discouraged them from signing up for appointments before the official launch date.

“Educators who sign up prior to this date risk being turned away or rescheduled,” it said.

It is not yet clear when the vaccinations will start.

The school district has operated with 100 percent distance learning since mid-march because of the pandemic. The School Board voted last week to allow students to return to school campuses on a voluntary basis for academic and mental health interventions, possibly as

soon as late February.

Education and elected officials have said that ensuring employees who want to be vaccinated are able to receive both doses and build immunity is key to the limited reopening.

Teachers feel the same way, said Vicki Kreidel, president of the National Education Association of Southern Nevada.

“If you want us back in buildings, you need to let us get vaccinated and allow time for it to take effect before that happens,” said.

The Nevada System of Higher Education will act as the education “point of dispensing” for Clark County, Jones wrote in the memo.

Vaccines will be administered at UNLV’S Student Union and the College of Southern Nevada’s Henderson campus Student Union. The sites will provide vaccines for school district, public charter school, private school and higher education employees, Jones wrote.

UNLV Medicine is updating its scheduling website to prepare for school district registration, Jones wrote.

UNLV’S vaccination site opened Jan. 11, and the CSN Henderson site is scheduled to open Thursday.

There has been confusion among Clark County school employees about whether they were eligible to receive the vaccine and how to sign up.

On Friday, the Southern Nevada Health District posted on its website that “frontline community support” workers — including child care workers, preschool through 12th grade teachers and college and university workers who must work on campus — were eligible for vaccination.

Some teachers quickly made appointments, and some received their first shot of the two-dose vaccine at sites including Western High School in Las Vegas.

But by Tuesday, the health district’s website had been changed to indicate that sites were not currently accepting appointments for educators.

The teachers’ union, the Clark County Education Association, put out a survey about the COVID-19 vaccine, which is still open, and more than 11,000 educators responded.

Most respondents want to get vaccinated, CCEA President Marie Neisess said Wednesday. “I was happy to see that the overwhelming majority are eagerly awaiting to get their vaccinations, and they’re hoping to do so before trustees want educators back in the building with in-person instruction.”

Neisess said there were concerns among educators about whether it would be mandatory to get vaccinated. “Right now, it’s optional. Everyone has to do what’s best for themselves.”