More than 1,000 Muscogee County school employees will soon get COVID vaccine in 1 day
More than 1,000 Muscogee County School District employees are scheduled to receive a COVID-19 vaccine Thursday.
In conjunction with the Georgia Department of Public Health, MCSD plans to set up 10-12 stations at Kinnett Stadium, where nine school nurses and a few emergency medical technicians from the Columbus Consolidated Government will administer the one-dose vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 1,188 of the 1,292 available appointments were filled, MCSD risk management director Tracy Fox told the Ledger-Enquirer.
“I think we’ll fill those last 100 slots,” she said, “and we’ll be sending out communication to give our employees one more opportunity (March 19).”
Fox hopes the drive-through system allows an average of at least 75 employees to be vaccinated every half hour from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., depending on traffic.
Regardless of the numbers, this event will mark a breakthrough in MCSD’s effort to do its part in combating the yearlong coronavirus pandemic.
“A lot of us are excited,” Fox said. “It’s been long and hard for our kids and our teachers. I think we’re just all ready to find some closure, and hopefully this is the beginning of it.”
MCSD chose to capitalize on Gov. Brian Kemp’s announcement Feb. 25 to expand the 1A classification for vaccine eligibility to include prekindergarten through 12th grade school system employees in Georgia.
The school district has modeled the plan after the city’s mass vaccination clinic conducted at the Columbus Civic Center.
“They kept traffic flowing in a way that could get them in and get them out,” she said. “(Kinnett) is the largest space that we have available that wouldn’t interrupt the schools.”
MCSD is encouraging, but not requiring, its 5,175 employees to get the vaccine, Fox said. The district isn’t tracking which employees and how many receive the vaccine on their own.
“We really just want to offer this as a convenience for our employees,” she said. “We were approached with the idea through the Department of Public Health to assist them as well with vaccinating a large population.”
DPH officials will be at Kinnett to supervise the vaccinations, Fox said. MCSD won’t have to pay for bringing and administering the vaccines, she said.
“Other than maybe putting out consent forms, there really hasn’t been any cost,” she said. “Some of those kinds of things can go through the CARES Act (for funding).”
