Eligible students and employees can get the COVID-19 vaccine at Atlanta middle and high schools.
Atlanta Public Schools will partner with health agencies to offer the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine next week. The second dose will be administered in schools several weeks later. Anyone age 12 and up is eligible for the shots.
“Parents will simply need to sign giving consent, and we will be able to do the vaccines on-site. So that’s a true game changer for APS, and we are very excited about that information,” said Katika Lovett, assistant superintendent of student services, at a meeting this week.
Atlanta schools opened Thursday.
The district is seeking ways to boost vaccination rates. As of July 22, when APS announced it would require masks in schools, officials said only about 18% of its eligible students were fully vaccinated. About 58% of employees were vaccinated “or plan to be,” according to a district survey.
APS is encouraging, but so far not mandating, workers to get the vaccine.
School board member Leslie Grant asked at Monday’s meeting if APS could require the shots. In her reply, Superintendent Lisa Herring said vaccines are “critically important,” but she was non-committal about mandating them.
“Certainly there’s an opportunity for us to explore and consider that,” Herring said. “We will, without question, continue to entertain that — which doesn’t mean that we will or we won’t.”
As the delta variant causes COVID-19 cases to rise, more employers have begun taking stricter stances on vaccines or offering incentives to push employees to get the shots.
Henry County Schools announced a few days ago that it would give $1,000 to employees who are vaccinated by the end of September.
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