Every teacher wanting a COVID vaccine will have one by next week, Gov. Kelly says
A combined state-county push to provide teachers with the COVID-19 vaccine has put the plan to open schools for in-person learning ahead of schedule, Gov. Laura Kelly said Friday.
“The teacher and school staff vaccinations are moving more quickly than we thought and we actually expect to have every teacher and school staff who want to get vaccinated, vaccinated by next week,” Kelly said during a call with elected officials. “And then their second doses will come three to four weeks after that.”
The vaccinations will make schools safer for students who return to the classroom, she said.
“That’s good news,” she said. “That’s because we’ve been getting additional vaccinations from the federal government but also because, even before we announced the back-to-school plan (last week), a number of counties have already taken it upon themselves to vaccinate teachers.”
The day after Kelly announced her plan, Sedgwick County officials said they would start sending vaccine shipments to area schools. Kelly’s plan followed months of pressure from Kansas Republicans pushing to reopen schools.
One week before Kelly announced the plan, Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, introduced a bill requiring Kansas schools to offer full in-person instruction to students by March 26.
The current trajectory of Kelly’s plan has staff and teachers receiving their second vaccine by the week that ends March 27, according to Governor spokesperson Reeves Oyster. COVID-19 vaccines that require two shots may not be effective until a week or two after the second shot, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kelly ended the school year early last year because of the pandemic, making Kansas the first state to do so. Kelly has said she wants to have students return to the classroom.
During this school year, the Wichita Board of Education sent students home in December because of rising rates of COVID-19. The board voted last month to start bringing its students back for in-person learning, but parents and guardians could have elected to keep their children learning remotely.
USD 259 has roughly 7,757 employees working in its schools. The school district received 5,000 Moderna vaccines Thursday, bringing the total delivered to the district to around 6,200 vaccines, Sedgwick County manager Tom Stolz said Friday.
Contributing: Katie Bernard with The Kansas City Star
This story was originally published February 26, 2021 at 12:26 PM.