A Tri-Cities school district is one of 1st in WA to host student COVID vaccine clinics
Richland schools are one of the first in Washington state to make it easy for teens to get their COVID vaccine.
About 250 Richland High students received their first dose a week ago and another 150 Hanford High students signed up to be vaccinated Friday.
That’s 10% of the Richland School District’s 4,000 high schoolers.
The state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction said it only knows of one other school district in the state to organize a similar effort.
“This is a way for us to help families feel comfortable to have their kids back in schools,” said Ty Beaver, the district’s communications director. “We want to make sure every eligible student has the opportunity to get the vaccine.”
The Richland school events were voluntary and were organized after students in all three school districts began returning to full, in-person learning five-days a week.
The shots are free were administered by Rite Aid pharmacists.
“We’re not telling kids that they have to get vaccinated,” Beaver said. “This is completely an option for families given how COVID is affecting our community and continues to affect it. We wanted to make sure our schools were as safe as they could be for everyone in our community.”
The school vaccination effort is happening at the same time that the Tri-Cities is seeing a new surge in COVID cases.
Last week, the Richland School Board was told 170 Hanford High students — or over 8% of the school’s enrollment — were quarantining and taking classes remotely because they came in close contact with someone at school who tested positive.
Other schools
And while the other large Tri-Cities districts reported numerous students and staff testing positive, they have not taken the same aggressive approach.
Pasco school officials say they are considering at-school vaccine clinics at the high schools. Though nothing is scheduled, they hope to hold one before the end of the school year in June.
Kennewick schools are not planning on-site clinics because students can easily get it elsewhere, Robyn Chastain, the executive director of communications and public relations, said in an email.
“We looked at the availability of appointments and locations vaccines were offered across our community. The need seems to be met by the many community health clinics, hospitals, retail pharmacies and the mass vaccination site,” she wrote.
The FDA has approved the Pfizer vaccine for anyone over 16. Anyone 18 and older can receive the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
Tri-Cities students ages 10 to 19 account for 3,370 of the 27,908 positive COVID cases since the start of the pandemic. And two youth in the age group have died.
Benton Franklin Health Officer Dr. Amy Person said most of those cases were among the older teens. High school students have a higher risk of contracting COVID than elementary and middle school kids.
Richland school clinic
While Richland’s event reached just 10 percent of its high school students, Beaver said they know other students also have gone to the mass vaccination site at the Benton County Fairgrounds.
Earlier, all three districts coordinated vaccinations for some staff memebers.
In addition, Pasco has started its voluntary COVID testing for students and staff as part of a state program aimed at providing more testing.