Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal announced a new partnership on Friday that will seek to vaccinate state teachers by the end of spring.
OSPI will partner with Kaiser Permanente in the “Get Ready” plan, which will include 14 to 20 vaccination sites in the Puget Sound and Spokane region. These sites will be able to offer vaccines to more than 80% of school staff. Other plans are underway to ensure that “nearest places” are also available in downtown Washington.
This plan will still exist within the state’s current phased approach to vaccination, which means that, at the moment, doses are still limited to those over 65. Among public and private school officials in Washington, this phase currently consists of about 7,000 people. In total, the state has more than 143,000 public school employees, while private schools have another 12,000.
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Eligibility is open to educators over 50 in families of generations at Level 2 of Phase 1B. The state is currently at Level 1 of Phase 1B. Students are further down the list and are scheduled to be fully vaccinated at later stages.
The hope with this partnership with Kaiser is to “streamline the work” as soon as the next phases of teachers and school staff are eligible to receive the vaccine.
“This program will allow Kaiser, as a great partner, to use incredible resources across the Puget Sound and Spokane region, to ensure that we have full coverage for our educators with vaccines as soon as (we receive) DOH green light based on the phase. time, ”said Reykdal on Friday.
OSPI and Kaiser are preparing these sites “as if we could launch in about four weeks, but it is probably more practical to think about it in five or six weeks”.
The next vaccination phase can begin as soon as 50% of people in the previous phase have received their first dose.