Most Colorado educators have had their first dose

Three weeks after Colorado opened COVID vaccination to classroom teachers and child care workers, approximately 75% of eligible people have received their first shot, according to data released by state public health officials.

Colorado has an estimated 120,000 K-12 school and child care workers, and as of Sunday, 93,175 of them have received their first shot. Eligible workers include not just classroom teachers but bus drivers, food service workers, classroom aides and others.

Colorado set aside 30,000 doses a week for educators starting Feb. 8 and continuing through the first week of March. Districts that serve more than 5,000 students were asked to space out their vaccination efforts so that doses could be sent around the state and reach small districts as well as large ones.

Some districts and local county health departments organized dedicated mass vaccination events for school staffers, while other school districts had employees sign up through lotteries with large providers such as Kaiser Permanente and Centura Health.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment worked with the Colorado Department of Education to collect data from school districts and child care providers to track vaccination progress.

School nurses and others who could be classified as health care workers or first responders have been getting vaccinated since January.

The dedicated supply meant that Colorado educators got vaccinated on the relatively short timeline promised by Gov. Jared Polis.

Christine Little, a fifthgrade teacher in the Jefferson County school district, said getting vaccinated provided peace of mind, even though she had felt relatively safe in the classroom.

“I’m just feeling safer, feeling more secure, knowing I won’t disappoint my kids or get my family sick,” she said as she waited in line at a recent vaccination event organized by Kaiser.

The vaccine is not mandatory. In district surveys, not all workers expressed interest in getting vaccinated. School staffers and child care workers who want to get vaccinated later still will be eligible.

Student-facing instructors and staffers in highereducation institutions will be eligible starting in late March, depending on vaccine supplies.