Closed? Or Open?

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Created on Wednesday, 10 November 2021 14:56

Written by Hailey Morgan

VERMONT-Registration for children ages five to eleven for covid 19 shots opened Wednesday morning of last week.
So far over 100 vaccination sites are available to students this week throughout Vermont. Even so, some superintendents are worried about registration as the state made a big oops.

Schools in Caledonia County got the notification two and a half weeks ago that in school vaccination clinics would be coming with the approval of the covid-19 Pfizer vaccine for ages five to eleven. Superintendents have been busy working with the department of health to establish spaces in schools to conduct vaccinations.

Kingdom East Superintendent Jennifer Botzojorns says this guidance from the Department of Health has been very straightforward. "All of the vaccines in our schools are run by the Department of Health. So the guidance is please provide us with a room, and a space, and a sign in sheet. So we are not administering them, we're not poking people in the arms," Botzojorns explains.

These vaccination rooms could be different for every school, they will be conducting them in gymnasiums, cafeterias, or nurses offices. Kingdom East will be having in school clinics at all of their schools. Although, there was some confusion from superintendents when it came to the conversation about registration. Caledonia Central Supervisory Union superintendent Mark Tucker says his schools will be hosting clinics at four different locations.

Tucker admits that not every parent will be able to get their child vaccinated at just any school clinic. As state officials made a big mistake in communicating to parents which clinics are open or closed."A closed clinic would mean that only students in that particular school would be eligible to sign up to get vaccinated at that school. An open clinic would mean they were going to have a certain number of appointments for any eligible student anywhere in the state of Vermont that wanted to come to your school," Tucker explained.

Botzojorns says her schools have closed and open clinics. "November 16th at Millers Run school from nine to eleven that does not mean just Millers Run children. It can be children from Sutton, or Lyndon whose parents want to do that," Botzojorns said. Tucker says his school clinics are closed, he explains his schools have chosen to go this route for the safety of their own students. "Our schools are still not open campuses, we still don't allow people to come wandering in."

He says some schools are doing it this way to make sure their kids are a priority, and from the abundance of appointments some superintendents have cancelled clinics. "So I heard yesterday in a meeting from a superintendent down in Springfield that ninety percent of his appointments that were set up to run at his schools have been taken by people that didn't live in Springfield. He closed his clinic, he cancelled his clinic next week because of that," Tucker explained.

He says that it's an unfortunate situation because the state placed certain clinics in certain areas for those who might have a hard time traveling to get their child vaccinated. "We will see how many of the Walden appointments get taken by Walden families. To see how many make appointments outside the community, and whether that creates any controversy for us." The state hopes to have children vaccinated with the first and the second dose by the end of December.

Tucker believes he will be lucky if his students get the first dose by January, but moving forward he wants to focus on the Tests To Stay program. As well as every other school in Caledonia County. Many parents have already signed up their children for the shot, Kingdom East has over 200 registrations already. To make an appointment parents can go on the Health Department's website, and make sure to call the school to see if it is a closed or open site.