VACCINATE

Health Center, which runs the mass vaccination site at Lord + Taylor, said the center wanted to save spots for teenagers to get the vaccine.

“When we became aware that the state was going to open up the vaccines to people 16 and up, we knew that we wanted to reserve some of those appointments for some really important people in our community, which are our high school students,” she said, during a webinar on Monday about re-opening high schools.

She said students will also be able to get the second dose of the vaccine three weeks later at the same location.

Taylor said seniors are the focus of this campaign because they are nearing the end of their public school experience.

“All of these rites of passage and special celebrations that the seniors get to participate in, we wanted to try to help make that possible for them, and at the same time make it a safer environment for all students and teachers to return back to school,” she said.

She said students should receive an email with instruction on how to register for the vaccine. Seniors who are 18 years of age or older can fill out the forms themselves, but younger students will need parental consent. Regardless of age, only seniors will be allowed to get the vaccine through the effort.

“Then we will be looking at, ‘How do we vaccinate everybody who is 16 and above regardless of what grade they are in?’” Taylor said.

Lisa Butler has two children at Stamford High School, including a senior. She said he’ll use the vaccine service on April 17 or 18, but that they will try to sign him up for a vaccine earlier.

Connecticut residents who are 16 and older will be able to sign up for the vaccine starting Thursday.

Nonetheless, Butler was encouraged by the vaccination effort.

“I think Stamford Public Schools is moving in the right direction by offering the vaccine for seniors so that teachers feel safe as well,” she said.

Butler has been one of the most vocal parents in favor of returning high school students to buildings five-days-a-week for in-person instruction. Currently, students in high school go to class every other day, participating remotely on the days they are at home. About a fourth of the students are exclusively remote, never setting foot inside the school buildings.

But officials are planning to re-open high schools on April 19.

Earlier this month, Stamford opened elementary and middle schools to full-time in-person learning.

Butler said her children were happy to go back to school fulltime. “They worked hard to get to this point,” she said.

Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Patients wait in their cars at the Community Health Center’s COVID-19 vaccination site at the former Lord & Taylor property in Stamford on March 8. Officials announced on Monday that seniors at either of the district’s three high schools — Stamford High School, Westhill High School and the Academy of Information Technology & Engineering — will be able to get the Pfizer vaccine on April 17 or April 18 at the site at the former Lord & Taylor store.