Pediatric COVID Vaccine Clinic, Testing Part Of Chatham School Board Discussion

CHATHAM, NJ — The topics of COVID testing availability within the School District of the Chathams for staff and students, as well as the potential of a pediatric vaccination clinic on site at one of the schools, were among discussions at Monday night's Chatham Board of Education meeting.

Superintendent Dr. Michael LaSusa said the State of New Jersey has given the school district a list of providers for COVID testing, to offer testing to unvaccinated staff members or parents who might like to have their children COVID tested.

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Beginning on Nov. 12, the School District of the Chathams plans to start COVID testing up again, as it had done so on Fridays in the spring of 2021, LaSusa told the board and the audience during the meeting. Any parent who might like to have their child tested for COVID for any reason, will have access to no-cost PCR testing available at Chatham Middle School between 3 to 4 p.m. every Friday. LaSusa said he believes test results will go directly to the parents, with parents needing to sign a release and accompanying minor students to the testing site.

The topic of a pediatric vaccination site within the school district was another topic LaSusa addressed, something he introduced at a Board of Education meeting in October. The Department of Health has been working with school districts throughout New Jersey to set up these clinics, said LaSusa, once COVID vaccines are approved by the CDC for children between the ages of 5 and 11. LaSusa said he hopes that the clinics will be outside of school hours, for parents who opt to have their children between those ages vaccinated.

Board of Education President Jill Critchley Weber asked how quickly the Department of Health could establish a vaccine site once approval is given; and LaSusa said he felt it could be within days, but it will also be determined by availability of the school facilities. He said parents would be notified via email blast. Weber asked if it would only be open to students who attend public school in the district or potentially to residents with children in private schools. LaSusa said it's open to Chatham students but he doesn't foresee that“they’ll turn anyone away,” he said.

Resident Kristen Cullen, who spoke in the first public session had concerns with a school COVID vaccination clinic, prefacing she wasn't there to discuss pros or cons of vaccinations of those under age 11 but with questions about “performing medical interventions at places of learning.” Cullen cited statistics from Aug. 19 that 81 percent of all eligible Chatham students were vaccinated, a number she said she assumed was now higher.

“That rate occurred without school-located vaccination clinics and without the recent green light from the FDA to administer the COVID vaccines in pediatricians’ offices," Cullen said.

She also said that there were 32 total COVID case numbers in the schools, amongst all students and staff, between Aug. 30 and Nov. 1, which she says represents .007 percent of staff and student population, with it unknown the severity of the cases she named. In K-5, she said there were 16 cases among staff and students, representing .009 percent of that population. Citing those statistics she inquired if there was an "actual need in our town to provide medical interventions that are in our schools. She said that “numerous media and scientific supports" state "the Delta surge has ended with national numbers trending down every day.”

Cullen said she believed additional access to the COVID vaccines is not urgently needed, especially in Chatham Borough, which she cited has low case counts. If offered on school campuses, her question was related to CDC school clinic guidelines, as well as what vaccines would be administered. She said some clinics are administering other types of vaccines, including routine ones, as well as flu. She asked who keeps track of the information and who administers vaccines, stating parents should know answers to these questions. She additionally asked if it would be outside of school hours, suggesting it should be held later in the day for the mental health of students. She asked how adverse and rare adverse events, such as anaphylactic reactions, would be handled and how consent would be obtained. She asked if the district would be compensated for the clinics.

LaSusa said the Department of Health would be handling all aspects, LaSusa stating while he was a school principal, the Madison Department of Health administered vaccines during the H1N1 pandemic from the high school's nurse's office, stating the health department is "well-versed in staging clinics.” He said it's not uncommon for school districts to handle vaccine clinics with Chatham's school district hosting a flu clinic for staff at their children. He also said medical interventions take place at the school district daily, for example students who need to check their blood sugar, as one, but that the school nurses would not be the ones handling the vaccinations, but the Department of Health.

Weber called the Health Department's use of one of the school facilities a "convenience," such as when the district allows the Boy Scouts to use the school or the Red Cross to host a blood drive.

In the second public session, another resident Nicole Lois countered the statement that it was a convenience, calling the COVID vaccine clinics different from having blood drives. She read some considerations from the CDC website, which she said asked school districts to consider if there’s a community need, sufficient resources and community and stakeholder support, before hosting a COVID vaccine clinic. She asked if the Board of Education planned to seek community feedback or send out surveys to confirm whether the decision to do so, is a value or priority of the community.

Weber said there would be no surveys sent out, that parents could choose not to use the service - reiterating it as a convenience - and could instead have their child vaccinated at their pediatrician's office or not get them vaccinated at all.

Click the video below to view the start of LaSusa's comments on COVID testing within the district, with comments from the public sessions later in the video:

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