Sacramento County teachers are about to get vaccines. What it means for school reopenings
In what will be a major step toward normalcy amid the COVID-19 crisis, Sacramento health officials said this week they believe they can finally begin vaccinating the first of Sacramento County’s 23,000 teachers in a little more than a week, offering mid-February as the likely start point.
That also goes for an estimated 1,500 private school teachers, many of whom are already back in the classroom but having to deal with periodic quarantines. It also will apply to childcare workers, college and university teachers and trade school teachers.
The progress on vaccinations does not necessarily mean in-school teaching will ramp up anytime soon for many local school districts. The effort to vaccinate teachers and staff likely could take months. Reopening campuses is not imminent.
While many in education consider vaccinations a key prerequisite for mass re-openings of school campuses, it isn’t the only factor in play.
As part of their reopening plans, most of the 13 Sacramento County school districts are waiting for infection rates to drop to the red tier of coronavirus spread for two weeks to bring students back for in-person instruction. Those reopening plans do not include vaccines for teachers.
“While safely opening schools for in-person instruction may look different based on risk factors like infection rates in different neighborhoods, if opening schools safely is a priority, then vaccinations for teachers needs to be a priority,” said Sacramento City Teachers Association President David Fisher.
Infection rates are relatively low in already open campuses in Placer County and Sacramento’s Folsom Cordova Unified. But a handful of positive cases have sent several staff members and hundreds of students home to be quarantined. It’s also unclear how much vaccines will reduce transmission of the virus, but the vaccine reduces hospitalization and death rates.
There also is debate in Sacramento County and elsewhere over whether teachers who already are in class teaching should get vaccine priority over those who are currently conducting remote classes via Zoom. Most private schools in Sacramento and elementary schools in Folsom Cordova Unified are open for in-person instruction.
Both Sacramento County Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye and Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools Dave Gordon said that the vaccines will be distributed equitably to teachers already teaching in-person and teachers running their classrooms through distance learning.
Will schools reopen before the second dose?
Parents should not expect the vaccine rollout to cause school gates to immediately open. School districts must submit reopening plans to the state, implement additional safety measures on campus and come to agreements with their labor unions on how and when to reopen.
Sacramento County has averaged 21 new infections per 100,000 residents over the past week and a test positivity rate of 6.5%. Both were the lowest for the county since early November, and were roughly half as high as peaks reached in December and January.
To hit the red tier, the county needs to drop to 7 new infections per 100,000 residents.
The California Teachers Association In January called for the state to reopen schools only when teachers and staff have the opportunity to be vaccinated, and they called on the state to use schools as vaccination sites. But in a press conference on Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said that teachers can return to in-person teaching before receiving both doses of the vaccine.
“I’d love to have everybody in the state vaccinated that chooses to be vaccinated,” he said during a press conference at the Oakland Coliseum. “Not only would I like to prioritize teachers, we are prioritizing teachers.”
Some health officials in the region agree that vaccines should not inform school districts on when to reopen.
“Elementary schools need not delay reopening until staff are fully vaccinated,” said Yolo County public health official Dr. Aimee Sisson. “Schools in California, other parts of the United States, and other parts of the world have safely reopened for in-person instruction using a layered approach to COVID prevention that did not involve vaccination.”
Some teachers have already been vaccinated
To add to the confusion, a number of teachers in Sacramento, Elk Grove and other areas of the county apparently were mistakenly offered access to an online registration link on the county website last week, allowing them to set up appointments at Cal Expo.
County health officials said they have since shut down that link for teachers and rescinded most of the appointments.
The county sent an email last weekend to school districts warning them that teachers are not yet allowed to be vaccinated.
“Some of you have reached out indicating that your staff found information on social media stating vaccination is now open to everyone in Phase 1B in Sacramento County,” it read. “This is untrue. People have also been sharing vaccination registration links on social media and attempting to schedule appointments prior to being eligible, which delays our ability to vaccinate priority groups such as seniors. We appreciate your assistance in discouraging this kind of behavior. We assure you that when K-12 school staff become eligible for vaccination in Sacramento County, you will hear about it from us, not Facebook or Next Door!”
Kasirye said the county is working on establishing vaccination locations for teachers, which could include inoculation sites at California State University, Sacramento and California Northstate University in Elk Grove.
“Educators are up next,” she said. “(We) hope to have multiple sites where they can sign up, (to get) as many as possible to get vaccinated.”
Slow COVID vaccine delivery
The rollout of vaccines for teachers has been uneven around the Sacramento region, with each county starting at its own pace.
Placer County teachers were among the first in the region to be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, with appointments at the county’s vaccination clinic opening to educators and first responders late last week.
In Yolo County, officials say teachers are next up as well, after the county vaccinates first responders. Spokeswoman Jenny Tan said the county health department is coordinating with school district officials now for the planned rollout, but said it is too early to say when teachers will get the go-ahead to begin coming in for vaccines.
Yolo continues to receive minimal doses of vaccines, she said, which means it will take an extended period to get to all teachers. “It is still going to be a supply issue,” Tan said.
Placer was also the only county in the immediate capital region above the statewide rate of 7,210 doses per 100,000 residents. Yolo County was 3% below the state average, El Dorado County 16% below and Sacramento County 18% under it.
Sacramento County public schools leaders and Executive Director and Superintendent of Catholic Schools Lincoln Snyder offered to open several school help sites to quickly and efficiently roll out thousands of doses for teachers and school staff.
Snyder said he feels encouraged that the county is following state policy and providing vaccines for teachers in Tier 1b.
“The key to getting teachers vaccinated is the key to getting students in the classroom,” he said.
Gordon said that there isn’t much school officials can control.
“We can’t manufacture more vaccines, and we can’t deliver them to the county,” he said. “What we are trying to concentrate on is how we can set up an efficient system to get the most shots delivered.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 2:47 PM.