PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — As Philadelphia public schools prepare to reopen Monday, teachers across the city are getting the COVID-19 vaccine. 9,000 teachers have already received their first shots.
Teachers rolled up their sleeves in the auditorium at South Philadelphia High School to get the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. The shots are being administered by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
"Our goal is to complete the two-dose vaccination process over the next four weeks," said Ron Keren, CHOP's chief medical officer.
CHOP is providing the vaccines at its Roberts Center as well as six school-based sites. Keren said 20,000 district, charter, and Catholic school teachers, as well as daycare workers have made appointments for shots.
"It depends on the size of the school," he said, "but on average, we're able to do 500 to 600 vaccines per day per site."
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Teachers and students in 53 Philadelphia schools are scheduled to be back in the same classrooms on Monday. Superintendent William Hite said the plan to reopen those schools for about 2,600 pre-K through second grade students is going ahead on schedule.
He also said he's aiming to have 152 elementary schools reopened by March 22.
Marisa, a teacher at Our Lady of Hope Catholic School, received her shot at South Philly High.
"It's a blessing that we're able to do this, and hopefuilly moving forward to better days ahead," she said.
When asked how her arm felt, she said it felt fine so far, "but I heard it's going to be sore tomorrow!"