,
Meghan Mangrum
| Nashville Tennessean
Nashville officials announce vaccinations for teachers
Health officials and schools announce on Monday that Nashville will begin scheduling vaccines for teachers and daycare workers.
George Walker IV, Nashville Tennessean
Nashville hospitals will start scheduling and vaccinating teachers and daycare workers this week, city and school leaders announced on Monday.
Mayor John Cooper and Dr. Alex Jahangir, chairman of the city’s task force COVID-19, joined the Nashville Metro Public Schools Director, Adrienne Battle, at a news conference on Monday afternoon to announce that the city will move to phase 1B of its vaccine distribution plan.
The news came the day before Nashville Public Schools students from preschool to 4th grade and students with special needs are due to return for face-to-face learning on Tuesday.
In the past few weeks, Nashville teachers have traveled to other counties in the state to get the COVID-19 vaccine before returning to schools in person.
The plan will be similar to how HCA Healthcare vaccinated police and other uniformed rescuers in December.
MNPS teachers and staff, including employees from charter schools, will be scheduled and vaccinated by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, while TriStar Health will care for staff in private and parish schools and day care centers. Metro School teachers are due to begin receiving their first doses on February 20.
VUMC and TriStar are expected to contribute their supply of vaccines to help start the next phase of vaccination to accelerate the move from the city to the next phase of distribution.
Hospitals will vaccinate about 25,000 people in the next phase at the site, while Metro’s health department will continue to work with the waiting list of residents aged 75 and over at the Music City Center before moving on to include residents aged 70 to 74 years These individuals, aged 70 or over, will be able to apply for vaccines from February 11th.
“Dr. Battle has taken some important steps to open our schools for face-to-face learning, now we must do what we can to keep them open, protecting our educators from hiring COVID, ”said Jahangir in a statement on Monday. “This announcement today would not be possible without the leadership of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and HCA / Tri-Star.
The city expects to receive 11,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week – an unexpected but welcome increase from previous weeks, Jahangir said on Monday. He also noted that the city expects supply to continue to increase.
Metro Schools employees will receive enrollment information from Vanderbilt Health in the coming days and will be prioritized for vaccines based on the district’s gradual introduction schedule for students to return to classrooms and whether employees are working in face-to-face or remotely, district officials said on Monday.
Jahangir said he is hopeful that Vanderbilt will be able to vaccinate all Metro Schools employees who wish to receive the vaccine in three to four weeks, or even earlier.
Teachers who have already received the first dose will not be able to apply for the second dose through Vanderbilt, Battle said. They will have to return to the place where they received the first dose during the prescribed period of time.
Metro Schools’ students and teachers will personally return on a staggered and progressive plan, which would allow educators to also stagger when receiving the vaccine. The 5th and 9th grade students return on February 18th, the 6th, 7th and 8th grades return on February 25th and the other high school students return on March 3rd.
“The vaccine is another important step in keeping schools safe,” said Cooper in a statement on Monday. “I am grateful to Metro Public Health for efficiently launching the vaccine to help avoid the long lines and waiting times we have seen in other cities. With the help of our partner hospitals, we will continue to provide a courteous and efficient vaccination process for our teachers. “
Vaccination of teachers has been a point of contention for many educators in recent weeks, as the state has pressured districts to reopen for face-to-face classes.
Officials said last month that Metro would be on track to start vaccinating teachers and staff in mid-February, without any federal vaccine prescriptions.
In January, Governor Bill Lee told Battle and Shelby County Schools Superintendent Joris Ray that he believed schools could reopen on February 15, but both superintendents asked the governor to commit to prioritizing vaccines for educators. in your districts.
During a press conference last week, announcing the district’s reopening plan, Battle again pleaded with Lee to distribute vaccines directly at Metro Schools.
“If the leadership in Tennessee is serious about maintaining staff in classrooms, we need to prioritize vaccination now. Not just on a chart, but in real life at the moment,” said Battle during the briefing last week. “So, Governor, as I asked you last week, please help us to keep our excellent teachers and support staff in class, getting the vaccine for them now. Not in a month. ”
Tennessee teachers were added to the state’s COVID-19 vaccine priority list in December, but the status of counties across the state continued to vary widely due to supply.
The Tennessee Department of Health has approved Metro Schools, along with at least four other districts, to distribute vaccines if available, but the state health department has not allocated vaccines directly to any school district.
The district received a word from the state health department on Monday that it was approved for a direct allocation, but district officials did not give further details on when or how many doses he could receive.
School board members had organized in the past few days to ask the governor to allocate doses directly to Metro schools and asked Metro board members to join the effort.
If Metro Schools receives a direct grant from the state, it will be in addition to the doses available through this partnership with the city, Battle said on Monday. If the district receives doses of the Pfizer vaccine, however, it will still have to work with Vanderbilt or Meharry Medical College to store and administer the vaccine because of the refrigeration required for the vaccines.
School nurses would likely be able to administer and store Modern vaccines on campus, district spokesman Sean Braisted said on Monday.
Yihyun Jeong covers politics in Nashville for USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee. Contact her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @yihyun_jeong.
Meghan Mangrum covers education for USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @memangrum.