Schools look to health department in effort to vaccinate children

Although federal officials are encouraging public school districts to organize COVID-19 vaccine clinics for students, local administrators say they are waiting on the county health department to take the lead.

While Libby Public Schools hosted clinics for employees earlier this year, Superintendent Ron Goodman said the vaccine drives were organized by the Lincoln County Health Department. Goodman said on Nov. 8 — just under two weeks since the FDA authorized the use of the Pfizer vaccine for children — that he had not heard from health department officials about planning clinics for young students.

Superintendent Jacob Francom likewise said on Nov. 9 that Troy Public Schools was leaving it up to the county to organize clinics.

As of Nov. 12, Public Health Manager Jennifer McCully said the health department was still in the early stages of rolling out vaccines for children. The county’s first batch of newly authorized doses had only arrived two days earlier. While public health officials were interested in coordinating with local schools to deliver vaccines, McCully said they had not had time to explore the option and gauge the interest of district officials yet.

Early efforts to administer doses to children, however, were showing promise. Public health officials provided shots to seven children at a clinic in Libby on Nov. 12. The parents who attended the clinic seem eager to have their children protected against the virus, according to McCully.

“They were very excited,” she said.

The health department is planning another clinic on Nov. 20 in Eureka geared towards providing booster shots for adults and doses for children.

Last week, the Biden administration began encouraging school districts to assist public health officials in providing vaccines to younger students by holding clinics. As the first stop in a cross country campaign, First Lady Jill Biden and Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy visited an elementary school in Virginia on Nov. 8.

The school is known for being the first in the nation to administer the polio vaccine in 1954, according to the Associated Press.

“The vaccine is the best way to protect your children against COVID-19,” Biden said in a meeting with school parents. “It’s been thoroughly reviewed and rigorously tested. It’s safe. It’s free. And it’s available for every child in this country, five and up.”

Billions of dollars are available in federal coronavirus relief funds to support vaccine drives for young children. The White House is also assisting districts in partnering with pharmacies to provide doses.

To dispel disinformation surrounding vaccines, the Biden administration is asking school officials to distribute information to parents on the benefits to getting shots, according to the Associated Press.