The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Vaccine-sickened teachers force district closure
So many staffers across all five school buildings called in sick Friday after getting the COVID-19 vaccine that the Upper Perkiomen School District had to cancel classes.
“Unfortunately this closure is necessary due to the large number of staff members that will be out sick mostly due to the reaction from the recent vaccinations,” Superintendent Allyn Roche wrote in an announcement to the community posted on the district website.
Treated like a “snow day,” the situation is known as a “functional closure.”
“There will not be adequate staff or substitutes to provide instruction and coverage in classrooms. A virtual day is not possible given the number of staff members that are unable to teach due to feeling unwell, and no asynchronous work has been planned for tomorrow.”
Teachers and other education staff have been getting vaccinated at a much higher rate ever since the state set aside its allotment of the onedose Johnson & Johnson vaccine for people working in schools.
Gov. Tom Wolf said earlier this month the state will be getting 94,600 Johnson & Johnson doses in the first wave of its distribution, and pharmacies in the state will get another 30,000. More will arrive in the weeks to come, he added.
All those doses will be earmarked for school employees, both at public and private schools.
Wolf said Friday that about 84,000 school employees in Pennsylvania had been vaccinated through the efforts at the 28 intermediate units in the state.
The vaccinations are expected to wind down by the end of the weekend with all 94,600 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine allotted for the effort dispensed.
According to the CDC, side-effects from the Johnson and Johnson vaccine include pain, redness and swelling in the arm where the shot was given, as well as tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever and nausea.
Montgomery County has been vaccinating teachers and educational support personnel that were in the 1A category because of their age or because of an underlying condition, according to Valeria Arkoosh, chairwoman of the Montgomery County Commissioners.