With the approval of the COVID-19 vaccine for younger children, many elementary schools around the U.S. are preparing to offer the shots, which educators see as key to keeping students learning in person and making the classroom experience closer to what it once was.
Some district leaders say offering vaccine clinics on campus, with the involvement of trusted school staff, is key to improving access and helping overcome hesitancy — particularly in communities with low overall vaccination rates.
Still, many school systems are choosing not to offer elementary schools as hosts for vaccination sites after some middle and high schools that offered shots received pushback.
More than 250 families signed up for vaccinations that began Thursday at elementary schools in Duluth, Minnesota, which organized clinics immediately after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave the final signoff to Pfizer’s kid-size COVID-19 shot for children ages 5 to 11. Superintendent John Magas called the vaccines a “game changer.”
“This brings us one step closer to moving from pandemic to endemic,” Magas said. “It allows us to reconsider things like social distancing and masking and things like that as safety permits.”
The Biden administration plans to send a letter to U.S. elementary schools in the next week asking them to host clinics. The Education Department is also urging schools to host town halls and webinars at which parents can talk to doctors about the vaccine.
Districts that have held or are planning clinics for younger children span Alaska to Vermont, said Hayley Meadvin, an Education Department senior adviser. Where schools choose not to host clinics, families can turn to doctor’s offices, hospitals and other sites.
“There are many points of access, and there’s no wrong door, honestly,” Meadvin said.
In Ohio, some school districts offered on-site clinics for older students, but Rick Lewis, director of the Ohio School Boards Association, said they haven’t heard from any districts planning them for younger students.
He noted the CDC encourages districts to consider factors like local needs for school clinics and adequate community support.
School vaccine drives have faced pushback and protests in Ohio and elsewhere, and some opponents say they plan to keep up pressure as the focus of the vaccination effort shifts to younger students.
Sarah Kenney, who represents the group Mainers for Health and Parental Rights, argues that schools should not be getting involved or even talking to young children about the vaccine. She worries about its newness and potential for long-term side effects.
A Pfizer study of 2,268 children found the vaccine was almost 91% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 infections. The FDA examined 3,100 vaccinated kids in concluding the shots are safe.
Kenney also expressed concern about stigma against children who do not get vaccinated.
“These conversations and personal decisions have been difficult enough to navigate for adults, we shouldn’t be putting this on our kids,” she said.
Parents are required to give authorization for their children’s shots. The vaccines are typically administered before or after school in partnerships with local hospitals and government health officials.
Chicago Public Schools, the country’s third-largest district, canceled school Nov. 12 to give parents an opportunity to get their children vaccinated by a healthcare provider or at a school-based site.
In Portland, Oregon, vaccines will be offered in eight elementary schools starting next week in high poverty districts, where families are more likely to face barriers such as access to health care or transportation, Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero said.
