Atlanta Public Schools launched its employee vaccination effort with a call to action from Superintendent Lisa Herring.
“We encourage everyone to get vaccinated,” she said Wednesday during a news conference at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. “As you’ve heard me say repeatedly: I want to to encourage everyone to get vaccinated.”
Herring spoke from a balcony area overlooking the stadium’s green field. Nearby, behind a wall of black curtains, APS employees lined up to get their first dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@ajc.com
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@ajc.com
Ashley Adams, a fifth-grade teacher at Continental Colony Elementary School in Atlanta, said she’s been waiting for this day.
“I am elated to be honest with you. I’m not all the way there, but I feel safer being around my kids,” she said. “I feel safer for my kids’ caregivers. A lot of my students are being taken care of by high-risk grandparents. So, knowing that I’m a little bit safer and keeping their family safe makes me feel better.”
APS secured enough doses from the Fulton County Board of Health to vaccinate about 8,000 staffers and contractors. Just over 1,600 had signed up by late last week.
District officials said some employees opted to make their own appointments as soon as the state expanded eligibility to include educators on March 8. APS, like other school systems, also reported that some people are hesitant to get vaccinated.
Herring said she’s seen indications that the number of employees getting vaccinated are going up.
Controversy swirled around the APS vaccine rollout. Earlier this month, Gov. Brian Kemp criticized the district because its mass vaccination events didn’t begin until more than two weeks after educators became eligible for the shots.
Kemp called that a “disservice to their teachers.” He accused the district of playing politics because in February the Atlanta school board urged the state to prioritize vaccines for teachers.
Herring again rejected that notion Wednesday, saying APS began planning in December to vaccinate employees.
“With great respect to our governor, it was unfortunate that that was the call-out,” she said. “We’re all focused right now on doing what we can and as quickly as we can to get as many Georgians vaccinated as soon as possible. At APS, we’re committed to just that.”
Meshell McCloud, the county health board’s director of nursing and clinical services, called Wednesday’s event “a very exciting day for us all because it represents a culmination of months and months of planning.”
APS will continue the staff vaccine events on Friday and Saturday. Employees will return to the stadium in April for their second doses.
Since late August, the district reported nearly 600 cases of COVID-19, including 23 staff cases and 7 student cases for the week ending March 19.
Fulton County Schools began its mass staff vaccinations Monday.
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