Teachers at a private school in Los Angeles received vaccines against Covid-19 – although they were not eligible under county guidelines

Teachers at a private school in Los Angeles received vaccines against Covid-19 – although they were not eligible under county guidelines

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Wesley School – a K-8 private school in North Hollywood where tuition ranges from $ 28,000 to $ 32,000 per year – said in a statement to CNN that it was contacted by a hospital in January, “indicating that it was creating a list of teachers and other essential workers who wanted to be vaccinated when the vaccine was available. “The school did not say which hospital it contacted.

“When the hospital notified us that the vaccine was available, some of our teachers booked appointments and received the first dose of the vaccine,” said the statement, adding: “We strongly urge public health authorities to prioritize vaccination for all educators” . The school did not say which hospital it contacted.

The vaccine news for Wesley School officials was first reported by the Los Angeles Times, which was informed by the provisional school principal Julie Galles that the doses were provided by Northridge Hospital.
Child care and education workers as a category do not yet qualify for the vaccine, according to the Los Angeles County vaccine eligibility guidelines, which currently limit inoculations to health care workers, staff and residents in health care facilities. long-term and people aged 65 and over.

This guidance estimates that educators may be eligible in March in Phase 1B. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health director Barbara Ferrer said this week that teachers can expect to be eligible in the next two or three weeks.

In the meantime, the health department said in a statement to CNN on Thursday, “All locations should be vaccinating healthcare professionals and people over 65 and if they have a significant amount of expired doses, they should consult the Department of Public Health, in the best way to ensure that there is no waste. “

The public school district declined the offer

The news comes when local vaccination sites have been forced to temporarily close or limit vaccine appointments to second doses only due to a lack of supplies.

A county health department spokesman told CNN that “the health system that provided these vaccines did not receive vaccines from Los Angeles County,” but from the state of California.

“The county Department of Public Health reported this incident to the state and informed the provider that this action violates the tier system now in effect in LA County, under which only health care providers and people over 65 are being vaccinated. . ensured that there will be no repeat of this violation. “

In a statement to CNN Friday, Northridge Hospital Medical Center acknowledged that it reached “several public and private schools in the area, including day care centers and law enforcement agencies, inviting staff and teachers” to receive the vaccine on February 2.

The hospital had come in contact after initially limiting its vaccinations to frontline health workers and community members aged 65 and over.

In a second statement to CNN, Northridge Hospital acknowledged that Wesley School was among the institutions that were invited to receive vaccines at its hospital, along with public elementary schools and law enforcement groups.

The hospital described the move as part of a “bona fide effort”, saying it believed, based on “preliminary reports”, that vaccination for individuals in Phase 1B would begin on February 1.

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“We realized that it was premature to schedule these appointments for individuals in group 1B before the county reached that point in its prioritization,” the statement said, adding that these meetings should have been canceled when it became clear that the county would not take this action.

“We regret that these vaccinations are not in line with the county’s vaccine prioritization approach,” the statement said. “We will continue to maintain close contact with the county’s Department of Public Health while we continue to vaccinate those who are eligible.”

The Los Angeles Unified School District – where students have been learning remotely since last March – said in a statement on Twitter that it declined an offer for 100 vaccination vacancies at Northridge Hospital after consulting county health officials.

“We asked for guidance from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, which confirmed that the rules allow vaccines to be offered only to individuals aged 65 and over and certain other categories of people,” the document said.

“Los Angeles Unified has chosen not to participate, as it will only be involved in vaccination efforts conducted in accordance with the rules of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health,” the school district statement said.

Los Angeles faces shortage of vaccine supply

Due to a lack of vaccine supplies, the city of Los Angeles planned to temporarily close five vaccination sites on Friday, including one at Dodger Stadium, after receiving just 16,000 new doses this week. Authorities said the city is administering around 13,000 doses a day.

But they were forced to close a day earlier on Thursday, after running out of vaccine doses “earlier than expected,” according to a spokesman for the mayor. All five sites will now be closed until Tuesday or Wednesday.

Dodger Stadium, four other Los Angeles vaccination sites are expected to close temporarily due to a lack of supplies, said the mayor

But the confusion about whether teachers are eligible or not is not limited to this Los Angeles community. Cities and towns across the country are working to navigate their own vaccine guidelines, which often vary by location, balancing the vaccine shortage with the needs and priorities of their communities, especially when it comes to schools and teachers.

The Chicago Public Schools recently announced that it would offer vaccines to employees living in clinically vulnerable families starting this week as part of an agreement with the teachers’ union to resume face-to-face learning. The agreement also included a goal to vaccinate 1,500 CPS staff each week, moving forward at the district’s own vaccination sites.
Compare that to Georgia, where the state public health department recently issued a 6-month suspension at a rural medical center after learning that the medical center was vaccinating local public school officials who were not eligible for state Phase 1A + .
Some or all of the teachers are eligible for vaccines, based on their occupation, in more than half of the US states and in Washington, DC – although many still face the problem of availability.

CNN’s Stella Chan contributed to this report.

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