Educators invited to vaccination site
A chalkboard-style sign welcomed teachers to the Porter County Expo Center Wednesday, as did classic elementary school classroom decorations including colors, shapes and the alphabet.
The educators weren’t there to brush up on early elementary school education techniques but to focus on a COVID-19 vaccine clinic put on by the Porter County Health Department and targeting, at least in part, the county’s educators.
Diana Mills, a health and physical education teacher at Kouts Middle School, showed
up for her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine with sons Greysen, 4, and Jake, in tow.
She found out about the clinic late last week from the school nurse and was able to submit her paperwork to the health department in a process she said was “super easy.”
“Boom! I was in,” said Mills, 35, of Valparaiso, who also found the clinic, held when Porter County schools are on
spring break, convenient. “As soon as the vaccine was made available to us, I didn’t hesitate.”
Gov. Eric Holcomb said educators and school staff, including child care workers, were eligible for the vaccine regardless of age as of March 15. Vaccine eligibility now includes those 40 and older and Holcomb has announced that starting March 31, the vaccine will be available to anyone 16 and up, provided the state receives a large increase in vaccines from the federal government.
The Portage Township and Valparaiso schools recently hosted vaccine clinics for their employees but this marked the first one held by the county.
“We feel like we’re doing a lot but felt we need to offer more,” said Connie Rudd, the health department’s director of nursing.
The classroom décor, she said, was to make educators feel welcome, and while the clinic focused on educators, it
“As soon as the vaccine was made available to us, I didn’t hesitate.”
—Diana Mills, a health and physical education teacher at Kouts Middle School
also was open to those who already had scheduled appointments for their first or second rounds of the vaccine.
In all, officials said 341 of the doses administered Wednesday were first doses, while another 111 vaccines were second doses. According to the county’s COVID-19 dashboard on its website, porterco.org, 37,420 residents had received their first dose of the vaccine while 24,950 had received their second dose as of Wednesday.
Ray Tarnow was the first of 15 or so people waiting for the vaccine clinic to open at noon. Tarnow, 50, who lives in Valparaiso, is the athletic director at St. Paul Catholic School in Valparaiso and teaches U.S. History at Crown Point High School.
“I think an appointment I had originally was in mid-April. This is great,” he said, adding he thought more people would be waiting outside. “I got here as soon as I could.”
Abby Kaeb, 37, of DeMotte, who teaches fourth grade at Hebron Elementary School, also was glad to come to the Expo Center for her vaccine.
“It’s great to have the opportunity because for so long, teachers kept getting passed over and passed over (for vaccine priority), even though we work with kids and are in the heart of it,” said Kaeb, who had COVID-19 in December.