Although educators across the state — including those in Franklin County — are grateful to be bumped up in the priority list for COVID-19 vaccines, there remains concern about the logistics of distribution.
Following the federal government’s announcement urging states to prioritize teachers, Gov. Charlie Baker announced on Wednesday that the state will allow educators and all school employees to sign up for appointments at all state sites beginning March 11.
“Almost all of our educators are in the building now, but I think it will certainly decrease anxiety about health and safety,” said Maya Jalbert, a speech language pathologist at Mohawk Trail Regional School. “Vaccines are definitely one of those stepping stones toward increasing the health and safety.”
Jalbert, who serves as co-president of the Mohawk District Education Association, said she was excited the state moved teachers high up in the priority list.
“We had been higher up in the priority list when the phases had come out, and then had dropped down,” Jalbert recalled. “I was glad to see it was all educators, and that includes our paraprofessionals and everyone that works in the building.”
Still, Jalbert said she has concerns about the logistics of vaccine distribution.
“We have teachers who have been eligible for weeks now … who haven’t been able to get vaccine appointments,” she said. “I think the supply is a big issue, not just in Massachusetts, but nationwide.”
Although CVS is accepting teachers to register for a vaccine, Jalbert said the state website is slow and can require hours of patience.
“(Teachers) really don’t have time for that,” she said.
Sherry Wood, a third-grade teacher at Gill Elementary School, waited on CVS’s vaccination sign-up website for 45 minutes Thursday morning, before being told that all the appointments on the calendar had been booked and that she would have to try again another day.
“As far as I know, only one teacher in Gill got in,” Wood said.
Even teachers who qualified for a vaccine earlier than most for other reasons had difficulties scheduling an appointment. David Grout, a sixth-grade teacher at Gill Elementary, had the first shot of a two-shot vaccination last week. But the scheduling website crashed while he was setting it up.
“I want this thing over with. I’ll do whatever I can,” Grout said. “Everyone I speak to says, ‘I don’t care which one. Just give me the shot.’”
Kelly Gobeil, a kindergarten teacher at Gill Elementary, said that she qualified early for a vaccine, due to other medical conditions. But technical problems on the scheduling website she used kept her from actually making an appointment until this week.
“I got to the point where I could choose the time and get a confirmation code, but then when I put in the confirmation code, it said the time was taken,” Gobeil said. “It was just luck.”
When she tried this week, the website seemed to have been revamped, and finally it worked. She now has an appointment for next week.
“The vast majority of people I have talked to are very interested in getting it,” she said. “It’s been a year. Things aren’t going back to normal overnight. But things are slowly moving that way.”
Some educators in other types of positions have already been vaccinated. Mike Bombardier, the adjustment counselor at Franklin County Technical School, qualified earlier than many of his co-workers as a mental health professional. He got his second and final shot earlier this week.
“As soon as I heard about it, I signed up and got it,” he said. “The website wasn’t super user-friendly,” he added.
On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) released a statement on the federal government’s decision to grant educators and school employees priority access to the vaccine.
“Although Gov. Baker has long been resistant to prioritizing educators for vaccine access, we hope that now he will work cooperatively with the federal government — as well as with the unions that represent school employees — to ensure the equitable, efficient and effective delivery of vaccines,” stated MTA President Merrie Najimy.
Najimy wrote that expediting vaccine distribution “will protect thousands of school employees already on the front lines, working with students in person.”
“This is a big step toward protecting the thousands more who will be returning to in-person learning,” she wrote. “We know this is what is best for students when it can be done safely.”
Jalbert of Mohawk Trail Regional School said the MTA is working on the Last Mile Vaccine Delivery Proposal, a rapid vaccination plan for educators that would necessitate the state setting aside enough vaccines for teachers, in a similar model that was deployed to vaccinate first responders.
“Looking at Heath and Hawley — we have a lot of rural towns, so to have more local vaccine distribution would be lovely,” she said.
Locally, the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) is expecting approximately 3,000 doses for teachers, according to FRCOG Emergency Preparedness Program Manager Tracy Rogers. Those vaccines would be available to administrators, paraprofessionals and aides, as well as lunch workers and bus drivers, for example.
With the help of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Medical Office, FRCOG hopes to set up vaccination sites at the regional high schools and work its way through the county, she explained.
Kellie Grybko, the Franklin Tech school nurse, has also already been vaccinated, due to her role as a health care worker. She said she has a long list of staff members who want to be vaccinated and about 10 who have successfully booked an appointment.
But some have misgivings about it, Grybko said.
“People are very excited. They’re tired of living the way we’ve been living,” she said. “But I think everybody has to think about it themselves. They have to feel comfortable, in their own skin, that they are making the right decision. It’s a personal decision.”