Schools prep for COVID vaccinations
♦ Both the Rome and Floyd County systems partner with Floyd Medical Center.
The Rome City and Floyd County school systems are prepping for on-site teacher and staff vaccinations as their eligibility opens up next week.
Floyd Medical Center will partner with both school systems as well as local private schools in order to administer the vaccines. Using an existing nursing contract with the Rome, Floyd and Polk school systems, their respective school nurses will administer a majority of those shots.
Most of those school nurses have already been trained to administer the vaccine, said Chris Butler, the director of corporate health at Floyd Medical Center.
“We’ve been pre-planning it for a while,” Butler said.
The vaccinations are voluntary and both systems have sent out forms for staff members who will take part in the vaccination drive.
The offer has met with some skepticism, especially in the county. Both Rome City Schools Superintendent Lou Byars and Floyd
County Schools Superintendent Glenn White said they hope their staff will take part in the free vaccination programs. White even took it a step further, saying he will be getting his first dose alongside other FCS teachers.
At this point an estimated 450 first doses are planned for the Rome school system and around 500 are planned for the county school system, Butler said.
Gov. Brian Kemp chose to allow child care workers and K-12 school employees and teachers to be vaccinated, but said that college teachers aren’t eligible for now. Community coaches and student teachers are also eligible to be vaccinated, FCS spokesperson Lenora Doss said.
On March 12, RCS employees will receive their first dose from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the College and Career Academy building on the Rome High School campus.
On March 13, Polk County School system employees will receive their first doses from 8 a.m. to noon at the College and Career Academy building on the Cedartown High School campus.
On March 19, FCS employees will receive their first dose from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Armuchee High School.
“We feel confident we should be able to get that done in less than eight hours,” Butler said.
The vaccination program dates coincide with either distance learning days or teacher work days because some people have experienced short term side-effects — like tiredness, Butler said. The Polk County School system’s event will take place on a Saturday to take advantage of having the next Monday out of school.
At this point, FMC has reached out to local private schools to offer vaccination services, FMC Spokesperson Dan Bevels said.
Because those schools have lower volumes of teachers eligible for vaccination, the hospital will work out times to bring them to P1 — a converted parking deck on the hospital campus being used for the vaccination program. Those doses will also be administered for free, Bevels said.