WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — We now know more about the current plan to get teachers vaccinated in one Central Wisconsin school district.
At a special meeting of the Wausau School Board on Monday evening, members of the school board heard from District Director of Human Resources Tabitha Gundrum about the current plan for teacher COVID vaccinations. Teachers are included as one of the groups in the state’s COVID-19 vaccination Phase 1B.
Gundrum says staff members who are considered frontline medical workers have already been getting vaccinated, but other staff members won’t receive any until the March 1st Phase 1B rollout date. Once the rollout date begins, Gundrum thinks it will take the District about a month to vaccinate all staff with their first shot.
“We don’t have enough vaccines for the requested volume right now. So it could take I’m guessing about a month maybe to get everybody through their first round. And the vaccine takes two vaccines, and the second one is four weeks after.”
The District has been working with Aspirus to plan out what their vaccination schedule will look like starting on March 1st. While staff are able to book appointments for a vaccination any day of the week, the District will be trying to get most staff vaccinated on Fridays for two main reasons. “Because those are the days we probably have the most flexibility.
“Not that we don’t have some students in at the secondary level especially. But we can create some flexibility in that scheduling more so than the other days. We want to try and disrupt the instruction the least amount during those days and focus on our Fridays. … Those that have some reaction during the first shot will have a little bit more likely response to the 2nd vaccine shot.
“Of the 20% that get some sort of reaction, the typical most common reactions are a low-grade fever, a headache, and extreme exhaustion or tiredness. So they sleep for a day or so not constantly but a lot. And so it’s very mild overall but it definitely will slow a person down and definitely have an impact on whether or not they’ll be able to do many things during that time.”
The District hopes to have a clinic set up with Aspirus for teachers the first Friday in March to coincide with the beginning of the Phase 1B rollout. The District is working with Aspirus due to their close proximity to Wausau school buildings.
For the vaccine rollout in Wisconsin, Phase 1B includes those in education and child care, Medicare long-term program recipients, first responders, some public-facing essential workers, non-frontline healthcare personnel, and residents and staff in congregate living settings. Currently receiving vaccines are frontline healthcare workers, residents and staff in long-term care facilities, police and fire personnel, and those over the age of 65.
Comments