MADISON (WKOW) -- Dane County School staff will receive the coronavirus vaccine next month, according to public health officials.
Public Health Madison & Dane County says it will partner with local health care providers to vaccinate school staff at Dane County’s Alliant Energy Center in March.
Public Health has requested 7,000 doses of vaccine for the week of March 1 and 7,000 doses for the week of March 8 for K-12 staff. Depending on available supply, the effort is expected to take 6-8 weeks and will include weekends when teachers and staff are not in the classroom.
“We’re happy to lead the effort to vaccinate teachers at the Alliant Energy Center. We all want kids in classrooms and vaccinated teachers are one more way that schools can protect the health and safety of staff and students,” said Janel Heinrich, Director of Public Health Madison & Dane County.
School administrators will be providing information to their staff when it is their turn to be vaccinated. There is no action that school staff need to take at this time.
“This clinic exemplifies how a community gets through challenging times – partners coming together around a shared desire to make schools safer for teachers and kids,” County Executive Joe Parisi said. “Vaccine clinics like this are part of the path out of this pandemic.”
If your school district already has an on-site vaccine clinic scheduled in partnership with SSM Health in your community, that will continue as planned.
Public Health and healthcare providers across the county have been working together to vaccinate frontline healthcare workers and people 65 and older. To date, over 15% of Dane County residents have been vaccinated in the last two months.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has indicated that school staff are eligible March 1, but this is dependent on vaccine supply. Additional groups are tentatively eligible for vaccine beginning March 1, but school staff are among those prioritized within this group. Limited vaccine supply in January and February has made it difficult for vaccinators to meet current demand.
In addition to this effort to vaccinate school staff, area vaccinators will continue vaccinating frontline healthcare workers and people 65 and older as quickly as possible.
Healthcare partners assisting in this effort include: Access Community Health Centers, Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin, SSM Health, Stoughton Health, UnityPoint Health ‒ Meriter, UW Health, and University Health Services, University of Wisconsin–Madison.
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