COVID In Pennsylvania: Officials Outline Plans To Vaccinate School Teachers, Staff, Child Care Workers
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Pennsylvania Department of Health announced Thursday there will be dedicated regional clinics around the state for teachers and school staff to receive the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. They're slated to open next week, according to state officials who explained how the plan will work.
The first 94,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to arrive in Pennsylvania will go first to teachers and staff who work with the youngest and most vulnerable students.
Gov. Tom Wolf's administration says Pennsylvania elementary teachers will be vaccinated first. State officials say COVID-19 vaccine clinics for teachers, other school staff members and child care workers will open across the state next week.
Wolf says there are an estimated 200,000 teachers and staff who are now prioritized to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Some in that group may have already received a vaccine or will not want one. With 94,000 doses coming this week, the issue will likely be logistics more than supply.
"This vaccine will help students and teachers across Pennsylvania return to where they want and need to be," said Acting Education Secretary Noe Ortega.
The acting education secretary says providing teachers and school staff with the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine is aimed at getting schools open for in-person instruction.
"This voluntary vaccine will help increase opportunities for students," Ortega said.
The school staff vaccination clinics staffed by the Pennsylvania National Guard will start March 10, with most providing about 500 vaccinations a day.
First dibs go to people working in pre-k and elementary schools, plus those interacting with vulnerable or disabled students.
"These school-age populations benefit the most from in-school learning," said Acting Health Secretary Allison Beam.
The acting health secretary said child care workers would also be able to get Johnson & Johnson vaccine through pharmacy chains, including Rite Aid and Walmart, using a separate allocation of the vaccine that they'll get from the federal government.
"We still do not have enough vaccine for everyone who wants it right now, but this situation is improving," Beam said.
She says, because Johnson & Johnson is a separate batch of vaccine, the addition of school staff should not impact people currently waiting for the other vaccines in phase 1A.
"What we constructed is a pathway for our teachers and our educators to get vaccinated, without putting additional stress on the hospitals or other providers that are currently working to address that 1A population," Beam said.
State officials say teachers and child care workers will be receiving instructions about how to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. It will be by appointment only.