I have heard from many of you regarding the rollout of the COVID-19 [vaccine] to school staff. The Governor has provided further clarification this week on how the vaccine will be distributed and I wanted to send out a quick update. The delivery of the vaccine to school districts will take place over the course of four weeks. The schedule for the vaccine delivery is now available on the OEA website. Please be on the lookout for directions from your school district administration regarding how to sign up to receive your vaccination.

It is your choice whether or not you would like to become vaccinated but please know that the vaccine has been found to be extremely safe and effective. The vaccination clinics that are being provided by your district will most likely be your one opportunity to receive the vaccine. I strongly encourage all members who are medically able to do so to receive the vaccinate for their own protection and for the safety of their students and community. NEA and AFT recently partnered with Dr. Fauci to host a fireside chat specifically on the topic of vaccinations for school staff and the outlook for school reopening. It was a very informative discussion and I encourage you to take the time to watch it if you are having any concerns about becoming vaccinated. I also want to remind you that, regardless of whether or not you have been vaccinated, safety practices must continue until we have been notified otherwise by public health officials. Information about the safe operation of schools during the pandemic can be found on the CDC’s COVID-19 Schools and Child Care Programs page.

We have advocated for inclusion of education employees serving Pre-K students, higher education faculty and staff, educators in Ohio’s corrections system, and members working for County Boards of Developmental Disabilities who have not already been vaccinated to be included as soon as possible. We have spoken with the Ohio Department of Health and received clarification that pre-K staff working in K-12 school buildings should receive their vaccines with other staff from those buildings. We will continue to work with members from these locals to advocate on this issue.

I am very encouraged by the support we are seeing from the Federal government to ramp up vaccine production, streamline distribution, and provide schools with resources to operate safely and meet the needs of all our students. There is light at the end of the tunnel and we need to guarantee to be advocates for the safety of ourselves and our students.

Thank you for everything you do.