Vaccines getting into educators' arms

Getting COVID-19 vaccines into the arms of Roseville educators boils down to abrupt text messaging, Interim Superintendent Jess Borjon told attendees at a recent Roseville Joint Union High School District board meeting. That day, he quickly blasted a district-wide email after Placer County Superintendent of Schools Gayle Garbolino-Mojica spontaneously texted him, "let your staff know that Walgreens has a supply of vaccinations for educators and there are appointments available on Thursday and Friday of this week." Distributing limited numbers of COVID-19 vaccines to school staff who want them is proving to be sporadic, albeit immediate. "A lot of times, teachers are teaching and miss the alert as the appointments go fast," said Tom Janis, Eureka Union School District superintendent, about unpredictable notifications. Janis and other administrators are hiring substitutes to cover teachers getting vaccines during class times, officials say. However erratic the vaccine rollout, Garbolino-Mojica said it is working. As of Monday, approximately 4,100 kindergarten through 12th-grade, college, preschool and childcare employees received vaccines since early February, Garbolino-Mojica said, adding that many unclaimed education vaccine appointments remained available for later in the week. "We are very closely dialed in to the vaccine (distribution), so we get information out to our school districts very, very quickly, depending on vaccine availability," Garbolino-Mojica said. Markedly, so. Still, about 10,900 county residents working in education have yet to choose or to receive vaccines. All total, there are 15,000 residents working for kindergarten through 12th-grade, college or childcare employers, Garbolino-Mojica said. Of those, 12,000 teach kindergarten through 12th-grade in the county's 16 districts and 21 charter schools. A February clinic held @theGrounds administered 800 vaccines to educators, she said. Roseville school officials contend schools remain comparably safe with COVID-19 guidelines in place, including extra cleaning and masks. Still, after hundreds of COVID-19-related quarantines and numerous reported positive cases among students and staff, there's no pretending the vaccine likely gives educators a thicker Band-Aid of virus protection. According to current district dashboards, 90 staff have tested positive for COVID-19 within the Roseville City School District, 72 working in the high school district and 36 in the Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District. Roseville and Granite Bay's Eureka Union district lists 21 staff who have had the virus. Rachel Fisher, Heritage Oak Elementary School's librarian, chose to get the vaccine. "I feel a huge sense of relief that I am (fully) vaccinated now," Fisher said after getting her second dose. Roughly 50 percent of Dry Creek district's employees have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and many are scheduled for second doses, said Gina Nielsen, district spokesperson. The district conducted an unofficial and anonymous staff survey, according to Nielsen. "Though vaccine supply remains very limited, we have not heard of instances where staff wishing to receive the vaccine have not yet had an opportunity to do so," Nielsen said. Roseville City School District Superintendent Derk Garcia said district staff were "thrilled" when the vaccine rollout began but is not tracking vaccine numbers. Eureka Union School District's Janis reports 89 out of 300 staff, or 30 percent, received COVID-19 vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's reopening guidelines do not say teachers must get COVID-19 vaccinations before teaching in the classroom. Under California Department of Public Health guidelines, vaccinated teachers do not have to quarantine if exposed to the virus at school. But, they must remain asymptomatic since exposure, be fully vaccinated for at least two weeks and be within three months of getting their full vaccines in order to avoid them. Countywide, 116,291 vaccines have been administered to Placer County's near 400,000 residents according to the state's daily-updated COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard. On Sunday, state officials gave Garbolino-Mojica barely 24 hours to get ready to distribute a newly-expected weekly allotment of 500 education-slated vaccine appointments. My texting thumbs happily ache just thinking about it. Robyn Eifertsen is a freelance writer covering local education. Contact her at robynmeifertsen@gmail.com.