If 90,000 teachers and other school officials in San Diego County were notified that they were eligible for COVID-19 vaccines, why did only 23,000 apply for vaccines?
This is the question that education officials are asking themselves, and the answers are not easy to define.
The Voluntary Employees Benefits Association, or VEBA, is the agency charged with ensuring that everyone in the education sector who wants a coronavirus vaccine gets one. VEBA notified education officials attending the K-12 series a few weeks ago that they could apply, but the response was lukewarm at best.
“We know for sure that people were going to their medical providers,” said Laura Josh of VEBA, who added that educators also went to local pharmacies for vaccines. “So, when you see the number of VEBA vaccinees, these are the people who went through our real portal, but we don’t have visibility or consolidated reports for the people who went through the channels.”
Martha Garcia, who teaches at the provisional kindergarten at Las Palmas Primary School in National City, told NBC7 that she went to a local clinic after learning that she could choose the vaccine she wanted, while going to a location designated by the VEBA, she would have to get whatever vaccine they were offering.
Garcia said that she and her husband wanted the Modern vaccine, so they did not register on the VEBA website.
Garcia said that teachers are “ready and willing” to receive the vaccine and doubts that the figures released by VEBA are a true reflection of how many teachers have been vaccinated.
“There is no accurate way to track whether a K-12 education worker was vaccinated at another provider,” said Bob Mueller, who is tasked with handling the San Diego County Department of Education’s COVID-19 response.
Mueller said that it is possible that some educators do not want the vaccine, but his main concern is to ensure that all educators who want it can receive it.
San Diego County has reserved thousands of doses for educators, but if vaccines are not used, said a county representative, they will be redistributed to those who qualify to receive them.