‘We’re blessed.’ Grateful teacher among over 1,000 MCSD employees to get COVID vaccine
On the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, Krana Herriott-Felton was among the more than 1,000 Muscogee County School District employees vaccinated against the coronavirus Thursday.
“I know it doesn’t fix everything, but it does help me with a little bit more security, knowing that I have that extra protection,” Herriott-Felton, a second-grade teacher at River Road Elementary School, told the Ledger-Enquirer.
A crew of more than 50 from MCSD, the Columbus Fire & EMS Department and the Georgia Department of Public Health staffed the 10 vaccine stations for the drive-through clinic at Kinnett Stadium from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
MCSD risk management director Tracy Fox praised them along with officials from Buffalo Rock, Chick-fil-A and Publix, who donated food and beverages.
“It’s really been just a community effort,” she said.
Each of the 1,292 appointment slots for the one-dose vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson were filled, Fox said. That means about one-fourth of MCSD’s 5,175 employees would be vaccinated by the end of the day. A waiting list will ensure no vaccine goes unused, she said.
“It’s been a really great day,” she said. “The energy is high. We’re excited. Everything is going well.”
It’s also bittersweet, Fox said.
“Reflecting back on everything we have done this year — the good times, the bad times, the hard times — and then to finally get to this point, it’s just, it’s overwhelming,” she said.
MCSD plans to have another drive-through vaccine clinic at Kinnett for employees March 19.
“It’s from 9 to 1,” Fox said, “but if we need more spots available, we’ll open them up.”
Anxious but thankful
Having an autoimmune disease, Herriott-Felton, 39, was anxious to get the vaccine, but she wasn’t feeling any side effects.
“All other places I have called, people were out of it, so for Muscogee County to give us this opportunity, I appreciate it,” she said. “… We’re blessed. I’m just thankful that, through all of the deaths that have happened, that I’m still here and my family members are still here.”
Herriott-Felton teaches students in-person and online at the same time. The numbers fluctuate, but she now has 13 in the classroom and four virtual. It’s difficult, she said.
“Trying to navigate it and figure out what works, what doesn’t work, I’m thankful I have parents that have worked with me,” she said. “… It went from being a seriously bad experience to where I can see the benefit of it now. I’m just thankful we do have the technology to do the things we need for our children.”
Herriott-Felton gave an example of how she thinks the vaccine will help her teach: During a phonics lesson, especially for English as a Second Language students, they sometimes don’t understand what she says while wearing her mask.
“They have to see the words being formed,” she said. “So there are times when our masks may have to come down and our defenses are down. So being able to now kind of comfortably take it off for a little while just to say, ‘This is what I need you to do. Watch my lips. This is how you form the word.’ That’s really helpful.”
Also helpful was having MCSD superintendent David Lewis hand her the vaccine paperwork.
“It was nice to see that he was out here doing it,” she said. “… He was actually out here, in the trenches, with everybody.”
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.
“We really just want to offer this as a convenience for our employees,” Fox said. “We were approached with the idea through the Department of Public Health to assist them as well with vaccinating a large population.”
The school district modeled its plan after the city’s mass vaccination clinic conducted at the Columbus Civic Center.
MCSD is encouraging, but not requiring, its employees to get the vaccine, Fox said. The district isn’t tracking which employees and how many receive the vaccine on their own, she said.
DPH officials were at Kinnett to supervise the vaccinations, Fox said. MCSD won’t have to pay the cost of bringing and administering the vaccines, she said.
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 5:17 PM.
