Education Week - October 6, 2021 - 10

A Vaccine for Kids Is Coming.
6 Tips for Administering the Shot in Your School
By Stephen Sawchuk
& Sarah Schwartz
Last month, drugmaker Pfizer announced
its internal studies showed
that its COVID-19 vaccine, at a lower
dosage, is safe and effective for children
ages 5 and up.
The news brought a wave of relief
for school administrators. Although
the research still needs to be reviewed
and approved by the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration, the idea that
young children could be inoculated
as soon as Halloween heralds the
prospect of a return to more-normal
operations after a bruising 19 months.
But for that to happen, more students
will need to be vaccinated. And
that takes some careful planning and
partnership with health agencies to
pull off.
Some school systems have taken the
lead in setting up vaccination clinics
for teachers, adults, and eligible adolescents
in their school communities.
And due to their geographic advantages-schools
are located in every
community in America-there's a
strong argument to be made that they
should double down on that role once
the vaccine is approved for younger
children.
" We are trying to remove any barrier
to vaccination, and if it's inconvenient
to travel and obtain vaccinations from
an access standpoint, there's a barrier
right there, " said Dr. Matt Willis, the
public health officer for Marin County,
Calif., who with his counterpart in the
Marin County Office of Education,
Superintendent Mary Jane Burke,
helped oversee school-based clinics
there. " It's removed by taking advantage
of what happens in a school setting.
Children are there together, and
there's an obvious benefit built into the
fact that you have them gathered on
site every single day, and all the transportation
is worked out. It's a setting
that is already organized and formatted
for ensuring they're all present and
can be vaccinated in a systematic and
efficient way. "
Education Week spoke to Marin
County and several other districts
that have had success hosting vaccination
clinics about what they've
learned in the process-and their
insights about extending the service
to younger children. We've distilled
their insights for you.
Lean on your medical professionals
and your community.
If there's one major takeaway for
school and district leaders, it's that it
takes some elbow work to create the
infrastructure to host school-based
clinics. Both schools and public health
leaders need to create it together.
" Maybe it goes without saying, but
you need a dedicated campaign; the
numbers are too high to expect this to
be absorbed into existing infrastrucpeople
are excited to be there. "
Starting the planning process
early also shows the community that
you're not waiting around, and can
also help to build community trust.
Marin plans to host two sessions in
October, one the week of the 13th
and another the week of the 20th, for
local pediatricians to answer families'
questions and concerns about
vaccination. (One of them will be in
English with Spanish interpretation,
and the other the inverse.)
Be mindful that younger students
will have some different needs.
The Winnebago County Health
ture. I think it's a common mistake to
say, 'Well, we have health-care providers,
we have pediatricians, and
they do vaccines.' " said Willis. " If
you really want to get through thousands
of children in a matter of days
or even weeks, you're going to have
to build dedicated infrastructure
that is on top of and outside of what
already exists. "
This spring, Marin County hosted
a series of weekend clinics devoted
to vaccinating 12- to 17-year-olds.
Because of the longstanding partnership
between the county office and
its public health department, which
began before COVID shut down
schools in March 2020, the partners
had developed the cohesive set of
protocols, strategies, and volunteer
structure needed to run the clinics.
All of that's underpinned by a robust
data portal that spells out which
schools are open and rates of staff and
student vaccinations, said Burke.
" Every single step we've taken
has involved the leadership of public
health, so I cannot stress enough:
This is not schools going it alone. This
is public health working in collaboration
with schools, " she said.
Other community partners can also
serve as help or to help find volunteers.
The Northshore district in Bothell,
Wash.-the first in the nation to shut
its doors in March 2020 due to the
coronavirus-also took the lead on
vaccinations. In May, when vaccine
appointments were harder to come
by, the district worked with a local
grocery store chain and health clinics
to secure doses for a weekend clinic
at a high school. It also worked with
the Shoreline Fire Department to put
together vaccination clinics at middle
and high schools during the school
day last spring and this fall.
" We couldn't have done it without
our fire department partners. We
couldn't have done it without our vol10
| EDUCATION WEEK | October 6, 2021 | www.edweek.org
unteers, " Lisa Youngblood Hall, Northshore's
chief communications and experience
officer, said of the clinics.
Start planning now by setting
aspirational-and inspirational-
goals.
Marin County is already well on its
way, crafting plans on how to move
quickly once approval comes through.
" The way we have been working,
which has been great for us, is anticipate:
If [the FDA approval] happens
on this date, what do we have to do
to vaccinate a percentage of students
by this other date? That sort of sets
our parameter of what we're working
towards, " said Burke. " Then it's backward
planning on a variety of issues. ...
If you wait until you know [the vaccine]
is approved, it will take a while to get
things going. "
The county expects that if FDA
approval is granted on Oct. 15, it will
begin its first dose clinics on Oct. 23;
if the vaccine is not approved until
Oct. 25, then clinics will begin Oct. 30.
Marin County has about 21,000 students
who fall in the age 5 to 11 category.
Its plans will be built around ensuring
that 25 percent of those students are
fully vaccinated by the winter recess.
Not only does the goal-setting
build accountability and transparency
among the partners, Burke
said, it can help to generate community
excitement and get families out
and about doing their part to reach a
common goal.
" You signal that and generate some
excitement around what that means
for us and the protection it's going to
offer for us and build some hoopla
into the process, where kids are excited
about getting vaccinated, and
you create a friendly setting. There
are balloons, people who are welcoming
you, music's playing, " added Willis.
" You create an atmosphere where
Cole Rodriguez, a 15-year-old
student, gets a COVID-19
vaccine at Topeka High
School's vaccine clinic.
Department, in Rockford, Ill., which
partnered with the Rockford school
district to offer vaccine clinics, is now
in planning stages for vaccinating
younger students. Dr. Sandra Martell,
the public health administrator
for the health department, said that
planning vaccine clinics for younger
students requires some new considerations.
A mass vaccination site could
be overstimulating for an elementary
schooler who is used to getting their
shots in a quiet doctor's office.
Finding ways to provide for students'
comfort-like inviting them
to bring a favorite stuffed animal-
should be a priority, Martell said.
" [We're] recognizing that this is a big
event for them, and how we're going
to attend to their developmental
needs during this time, " she added.
Marin County will be targeting
teachers in its elementary school
areas to serve as volunteers if possible,
so children can see their own teacher
or someone else in their school that
they know. And it will provide opportunities
for parents and kids to have a
consultation with a public health official
before the inoculation.
" Most children have had shots before
so this won't be new, but we'll be
working on sort of the social-emotional
side. Our doctors and pediatricians
will be talking about those strategies
as part of the overall training:
What are the things to say to kids? "
Willis said.
The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention currently offers some
resources for working with adolescents,
and it may release additional
resources once the vaccines are approved
for younger children.
Don't underestimate the logistics.
Don't make the error of thinking
running a clinic is as easy as hanging
up the shingle and starting vaccinations,
the experts cautioned; that's
the end point after carefully working
out the logistics.
" You really need to plan out the flow,
what the day is going to look like, making
sure you have enough time for each
person to be vaccinated, especially for
little kids-they need more hand-holdEvert
Nelson/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP
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Education Week - October 6, 2021

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