Some Northeast Ohio School Districts Will Get First Round Of COVID-19 Shots This Week

Some Northeast Ohio school districts began the process of vaccinating teachers and school staff this week, including Summit, Medina and Mahoning counties.

They are among the first 12 counties designated for the first of the four-week statewide rollout. School districts there were divided up by the state and assigned to various vaccine providers, including local hospitals and pharmacies.

Education Service Centers (ESC) coordinated efforts to connect districts with providers, said Summit ESC Superintendent Joe Iacano. Vaccination providers, including local hospitals, health departments and drugstores, are responsible for scheduling and administering the vaccine to school staff members who want vaccines, based on numbers provided by the districts.

“We recognize there’s always the outside possibility of additional delays, but we feel good about the fact that [Summit County is] near the front in the state,” Iacano said.

The ESC is still coordinating vaccination efforts between five districts and local pharmacies, he said. Some providers need the second week to cover all the requested vaccinations, he said.

“We do know that some of them have stated they may not get their full dose this week and it may get pushed into a second week,” Iacano said.

Three of the ESC’s districts are set to participate in vaccination clinics Saturday, he said, but the remaining two may not be vaccinated until Feb. 12 or 13.

Summit County Public Health will offer an appointment-based drive-thru clinic Friday through Sunday to the districts it has been assigned by the state, said Public Information Officer Marlene Martin, and expects to administer 1,700 doses in that timeframe.

The department has enough vaccines to cover the three districts and 13 private schools it’s responsible for, Martin said, based on a count of those who were interested in receiving it.

It’s unclear if the department will be assigned additional schools after this first week as more vaccinations are needed, she said.

“We expect that that might happen, but there’s been no verification from the state that that will happen,” Martin said.

With more than more than 91,000 Ohio school teachers and staff now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, some educators are already running into slow and unresponsive systems while trying to sign up for the shot.

The Ohio Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, shares the frustrations of educators who have encountered challenges in signing up to get vaccinated.

"In conjunction with strict adherence to all CDC guidelines for distancing, masking, and sanitizing, these vaccines are a critical resource for schools across the state to be able to serve students in-person safely. Because district leaders were required to gauge interest in the vaccine and inform the state how many of their employees would likely take it, those responsible for the rollout should have been fully prepared for the high demand. Like the educators we represent, OEA is seeking answers about what went wrong with the initial rollout and what is being done to ensure all educators will be able to receive a vaccine on the timeline promised by the state leaders," Scott DiMauro, president of the Ohio Education Association, said in a written statement.

Gov. Mike DeWine has been emphatic that every Ohio school teacher and staff member who wants a COVID-19 vaccine will be able to get it, but the timing of the vaccinations remains dependent on the supply.

Statehouse News Bureau's Andy Chow contributed to this report.