Hundreds of Rio Grande Valley teachers were inoculated against COVID-19 last week in the wake of a federal directive to include school staff and child care workers among eligible candidates. Thousands more teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and other school staff members are likely to follow in the coming weeks.
Those inoculations, local educational leaders say, will be a big step toward returning Valley schools to some semblance of normalcy.
Imelda Garcia, chair of Texas Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel and DSHS associate commissioner, discussed the new eligibility rating Tuesday, noting that educators would not jump past people in the 1A and 1B priority groups but would be included among them, saying she expects “multiple pathways that teachers and other education staff will be able to get vaccinated.”
“Some will take advantage of the existing providers like HUB locations and pharmacies,” she said. “We will be allocating vaccines to those school districts that have enrolled as vaccine providers. And I expect that some providers will partner with school districts to vaccinate their employees.”
The Edinburg school district went the vaccine provider route, one of the first in the Valley to do so.
A little under 4,400 district staff members in Edinburg — or about 85% — said they were willing to get a vaccine. Following an all-day clinic Sunday, the district says it’s provided all of those employees with a dose.
“It’s a big step toward getting back to normal,” Edinburg CISD Superintendent Mario Salinas said. “Big giant step.”
Salinas says the district will continue operating as a provider even after it’s vaccinated all of its own employees. The district is slated to receive doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine Monday, which Salinas hopes will continue coming so they can be used on the community.
“We’re gonna turn our focus on our parents and try to get them vaccinated too,” he said.
Having an inoculated workforce will likely mean more students coming back to classrooms, Salinas said. Although pandemic-provoked social distancing and hygiene measures on campus aren’t expected to end soon, Salinas described the vaccine as an additional layer of security that will likely normalize going back to school.
“We’re super excited to finally get back to face to face instruction, which has been missing at our schools for a year now,” he said.
Patricia González, a fifth grade teacher at FJ Scott Elementary School in Roma, said she also sees the vaccine as an extra measure of protection.
Roma ISD also vaccinated all of its employees who wanted the shot last week. The district administered 572 vaccines, enough for over half of its total workforce.
A fraction of that workforce opted out, citing pregnancy, recent cases of the virus or just general reluctance. Others who qualify under other eligible groups already received a vaccine.
González, 36, called the vaccine a blessing. Her brother, mother and father were all hospitalized with COVID-19 in January. Her father was still being weaned off of a ventilator when she got her shot last week.
“It’s been a very personal experience with this pandemic,” she said.
González says she’s continuing to teach online and she’s not sure when she’ll see her students in person again. Despite the impact the pandemic has had on her family, she says she largely trusts sanitization measures at the district and feels confident about returning to the classroom full time — especially after receiving the shot.
“Now that we have the vaccine, now that things are starting to look up, we’re looking forward to whenever our district says that we’re ready to go back to the classroom,” González said. “We’re ready.”
Monitor staff writer Valerie Gonzalez contributed to this article.
