Vaccination of teachers is no longer an obstacle to getting children from Medina County back to school

MEDINA, Ohio – In an effort to fully open face-to-face classrooms, the governor’s office, superintendents of all schools in Medina County, the Medina County Department of Health and Discount Drug Mart collaborated to organize a clinic one-day COVID-19 vaccination program for all county educators and school staff.

All schools in the county were closed on Thursday (February 4) to allow 1,800 teachers and staff to receive Pfizer vaccines at Medina High School. Another 1,500 were vaccinated at Brunswick High School.

Dr. Robert Hlasko, superintendent of the Medina County Educational Services Center, explained that Medina County was one of the first in the state to receive vaccines. He attributed this to the weekly meetings that county superintendents have had with the Department of Health since the pandemic began last spring.

Because of this collaboration, the county was able to assure the governor’s office that it had a plan and was prepared to put it into practice as soon as vaccines were available.

Discount Drug Mart provided the platform for educators to register and schedule vaccines. Earlier in the week, eligible educators received an appointment link to the clinic, which opened at 7 am and ran until 5 pm

Jason Briscoe, director of pharmaceutical operations at Discount Drug Mart, said the company’s 76 pharmacies in Ohio have administered 30,000 COVID-19 vaccinations to citizens qualified for age in the past 14 days.

He mentioned that the pharmacists who administered the injections at Medina High School came from pharmacies across the region and probably worked 12 hours a day on Wednesday before going to the clinic on Thursday.

The superintendent of Medina’s municipal schools, Aaron Sable, spoke about the difficulty of staffing schools during the pandemic. Sable said the biggest challenge has been quarantining students and staff who have been exposed to the coronavirus.

He spoke ironically about his lack of experience: “This is my first pandemic and my first vaccination clinic”.

He said that although 80 percent of school staff are now protected by the vaccine, and although there has been little or no spread of the virus in schools, the district will continue to stick to strict protocols, including safe social distance and wearing masks.

Team members who arrived at Medina High School for vaccines were directed to the academy, where they were registered and assigned to one of several pharmacists who were administering the vaccine.

A pharmacist estimated that he was giving an injection every three minutes.

After each person received their vaccine, they went to the upper area of ​​the gym, where they sat for 15 minutes before being dismissed. This was to observe any reaction to the immunization.

Because of HIPAA restrictions and for the benefit of the media, Melanie Condosta, a physical education teacher at AI Root Middle School, offered to be vaccinated in a separate classroom. Cuyahoga Falls Drug Mart pharmacist Megan Levitt administered the injection.

“The shot didn’t hurt at all,” said Condosta. “This pandemic has been difficult; it’s been an emotional roller coaster. I think everyone is happy to be back at school. “

County schools will be closed again for one day – after approximately 27 days – so the second injection of the Pfizer series can be administered. Since previous recipients reported mild side effects with the second dose of Pfizer, the vaccine is likely to be administered on Friday to allow team members to rest on the weekend.

Consider the benefits of that vaccination day: Fortunately, none of the school’s 3,300 employees will hire COVID-19. In a ripple effect, none of these people will infect others with the virus, none will be hospitalized, students will be able to return to classrooms with their friends, parents will return to work – and life may begin to resemble normal pre-pandemic for families in Medina County.

Read more on Medina Sun.