St. Louis Area School Districts Plan Vaccine Clinics For Teachers, Staff This Week

CBS St. Louis

March 15, 2021

Hundreds of empty chairs await hundreds of anxious teachers at Vashon High School for the first of several vaccine clinics for educators this week. St. Louis Public School (SLPS) will vaccinate more than 2,000 teachers and staff over four days with the assistance of the Urban League and the National Guard. The Urban League is facilitating vaccine clinics for other districts including River School District, Ritenour and Ferguson-Florissant. “It's a life or death situation for some employees,” said Dr. Kelvin Adams, the superintendent for SLPS, said. Dr. Adams said some employees threatened to quit or resign if they were forced back to the classroom before they got the vaccine. He said it was a small number, "but any number is too many, we didn't want to lose any employees so this was an opportunity to have ours vaccinated. To prepare to get back in the classroom as soon as next week."

St. Louis Public Schools to vaccinate over 2,000 staff and educators next week

St. Louis Public Schools are set to vaccinate more than 2,000 staff members and other St. Louis City educators next week. Ferguson-Florissant teachers will come back to the classroom for the first time next week. They’ve been virtual since the beginning of the pandemic. “About two thirds of our folks will be getting vaccinated through this clinic,” said Kevin Hampton with the Ferguson-Florissant. Affton School district says they are working with the Affton Medicine Shoppe to vaccinate their teachers on Monday. Many teachers across the St. Louis region have already gotten vaccinated. Some were eligible through the federal pharmacy program, others like Ashley Luther, a teacher at Rockwood School District got lucky with extra doses. “It’s a really big relief actually because being in the classroom with so many unknowns, it’s been kind of nerve wrecking,” Luther said. Rockwood School District says they are working with St. Louis County Health Department to help get teachers vaccinated. St. Louis County Health Department will host an educators vaccine clinic on May 24 at Florissant Valley Community College. An email to teachers says it will be the first of many clinics. “Staff most vulnerable to infection and severe disease outcomes such as older individuals, those with underlying health conditions, and those with higher risk of exposure will get the opportunity to schedule appointments first,” read the email to teachers. St. Louis County Executive Sam Page said Monday, vaccinating teachers and school employees is essential to reopening schools safely. "In-person learning is the ideal setting and our children needs to be in a place where they can socialize, develop interpersonal skills and share life experiences with their friends," Page added. Touching on the timeframe it would take to administer doses to all school personnel, the county executive said it depends on the supply of the vaccine. "As we get more vaccinators and more vaccines, we;ll be able to do this more quickly. But at this point, it'll be very difficult to project a timeline," he said. "We still have a limited supply in our community." He aims to release a detailed announcement regarding a vaccination solution for educators next Monday.