`Never been so excited'
Thousands of school staff vaccinated on first day of appointments
NORMAN—A push to vaccinate tens of thousands of school teachers and staff by spring break began Monday as state-scheduled vaccine appointments widely opened to Oklahoma educators for the first time.
Ten thousand Oklahomans, including 3,500 school employees, arrived for vaccinations Monday at IMMY Labs' major distribution event in Norman.
More than 1 million residents became eligible to set vaccine appointments
Sunday when the Oklahoma State Department of Health opened its scheduling portal to employees of pr e-K though 12th grade schools and to Oklahomans of any age with comorbidities to COVID-19.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Lance Frye said health officials aim for all school employees who want the vaccine tog eta shot by spring break, which begins March 15 for all Oklahoma public schools.
Deputy Health Commissioner Keith Reed said the state Health Department estimates of Oklahoma's 89,000 school employees, at least 60,000 intend to take the vaccine.
“We know in the state about two-third soft he population is interested in getting vaccinated, so we'll have to track that as we move forward,” Reed said while speaking with media at the Norman vaccine event. “I think it's going to vary probably from school district to school district, and that's information we look forward to getting as we move further into this.”
Through surveys of staff, Oklahoma City Public Schools found 3,500 of its 5,000 employees want the vaccine, administrators said in a school board meeting Feb. 16. More than 600 employees had already been vaccinated before stateissued appointments opened to educators this week.
As a publicly funded governmental entity, a school district might violate its employees' rights if it mandated them to take a vaccine, the district's general counsel, Jessica Sherrill, said at the Feb. 16 meeting.
About 1 , 5 00 of Putnam City schools' 2,300 employees said in district surveys that they wanted the COVID19 vaccine. The remaining
800 are a mix of staff members who said they wouldn't take a vaccine, were unsure about being vaccinated or didn't respond to the survey, a district spokeswoman said.
National surveys by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 68% of U.S. adults are at least somewhat likely to get the vaccine. The number of people who said it is very likely or absolutely certain they will be vaccinated grew from 39% to 49% from September to December, according to a CDC report.
School districts have already begun vaccinating staff by creating private point-ofdistribution sites. Putnam City and Oklahoma City vaccinated more t han 200 employees in staff-only vaccine clinics Feb. 12 through a partnership with third-party vaccine provider Passport Health.
State schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said COVID- 19 has been a disruptive force in education this year, and that could encourage more school employees to take the vaccine voluntarily. She said teachers have been “clamoring” f or access to appointments.
“I would be actually quite confident that among school personnel and teachers that we would see higher interest than in perhaps other groups,” Hofmeister said at the Norman vaccine event.
Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Jena Nelson and finalists for the 2021 Teacher of the Year award received their first dose at IMMY Labs' megaclinic in Norman.
2021 finalist Jessica
Eschbach called the event a “turning point.” Eschbach is an innovative learning coach at Norman North High School.
“I feel like we're turning a corner during this pandemic,” she said. “I've never been so excited tog eta shot in my entire life.”
Nelson said the past year has been taxing for educators, who quickly adjusted to online teaching last spring and have endured a tumultuous school year.
Teachers have been in limbo between virtual classes, in-person instruction and COVID-19 protocols, with a long road of academic recovery likely ahead, the Teacher of the Year said. Offering them vaccinations is “a game changer.”
“The way we close those gaps is to make sure that we have great educators in the classroom that are feeling the support from their schools, from their districts, from their ( school) boards, from the community and from the state,” Nelson said. “That's how we're going to close that learning gap, is by supporting our teachers. ... And this is a great way to do that.”