Today OSPI Superintendent Chris Reykdal announced the Get Ready Plan today, to get kids into classrooms immediately and education staff in public & private school communities vaccinated as soon as the State provides the go-ahead. A partnership has been negotiated with Kaiser Permanente “to partner assets across Puget Sound, Spokane and with DOH in other regions to get full coverage for educators once we get State go-ahead for our phase level.“
ALL public & private school employees will be supported by the B2-B4 vaccine roll-out in an efficient manner with Kaiser. Kaiser has 14-20 assets around the state which can implement this roll-out, planning & details are still under development. Reykdal pleaded for public school & private school employees 65 and over, to “please get vaccinated now, to make the cycle go farther faster!” Current phase is 1.5 million people, and the next phase will not be until half of that total has been vaccinated. About 5-6 weeks away.
Chris Reykdal emphasized “The honest truth – students won’t get the vaccine for quite some time, also there are people who cannot or won’t do the vaccine. The vaccine is a big safety net, but the other safety protocols are what will ultimately keep everyone safe. We DO NOT HAVE TO WAIT for the vaccine to get schools open TODAY. Continue to open schools now as we wait for the vaccine roll-out, knowing we will be wearing face coverings in schools and the community for quite some time – this is the honest reality. Until everyone is able to be vaccinated, masks are required.” Susan Mulaney, CEO Kaiser added “Kaiser Permanente doors will be open to all school employees to get vaccinated”.
Vaccination sites: Over the next 4 weeks OSPI will communicate with school districts, public & private, around the state. Logistics are critical as they develop a plan to match data in registering for a vaccine with school employment verification, while following safety & privacy protocols. Locations will primarily be in Kaiser facilities, but they are mapping some locations in voids where potentially school sites could be utilized. These locations may get a call asking them to be hosts.
WFIS has confidence the plan being developed will efficiently vaccinate all school staff. It will be MARCH before your staff has access. Please limit your school’s phone calls and emails to Health Departments to emergency calls only. We need their staff to be working on vaccination distribution right now.
