The Pennsylvania Health Department provided more details about their program to vaccinate school and child care workers within the next few weeks.
School workers will be vaccinated at intermediate units clinics across the state, while child care workers will get a vaccine through the state's retail pharmacy partners
Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said the pharmacy partners are getting started on the initiative Thursday.
"Starting as soon as today, our retail pharmacy partners, Rite Aid, Topco and Walmart will begin these efforts," Beam said.
The state expects intermediate units will begin opening clinics between March 10 and 13, operating on weekdays and weekends.
"We anticipate that the majority of these sites will support up to 500 doses a day, with some of the sites in IU's with higher amounts of teachers and support staff being able to administer up to 1,000 doses a day," said PEMA Director Randy Padfield. "We anticipate most sites will be completed administering the first round of available vaccine it 8-10 days."
Select school workers will have priority to sign up for appointments at the IU's, including teachers and support staff of English learners and students with disabilities, elementary school teachers and support staff, bus drivers and contracted service providers who have direct contact with elementary students and other school staff who have regular, sustained in-person contact with students.
School workers will get more information from their employers, while child care workers will be contacted by the pharmacies.
The state is expecting over 94,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week to be used in the effort to vaccinate school and child care workers, but Beam said they've been notified that will likely be the last shipment for a few weeks.
Governor Tom Wolf said Wednesday they believe they can vaccinate most school and child care workers by the end of March. Even with no shipments of the J & J vaccine for a few weeks, Beam believes that goal is still attainable.
"By the end of the month, it's our understanding that commitment (of vaccines) will not only be reestablished, but it could even exceed what we received this week."
While Pennsylvania pushes to reopen schools, the state also relaxed certain virus mitigation efforts earlier this week. Governor Tom Wolf announced increased gathering limits for events and ended out-of-state travel restrictions.
As Mississippi and Texas allow businesses to fully open and end mask mandates, Beam indicated Pennsylvania won't be reducing mitigation efforts that drastically for now.
"Mask-wearing is abundantly important, and I want to make sure to emphasize that because while we know we're making progress and we continue to invest in the vaccine rollout, we have to keep Pennsylvania safe," she said.
Beam added the state is consistently evaluating mitigation efforts and when might be an appropriate time to relax them.
