Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - The next target for saturation in getting the COVID vaccine distributed may be school- age teenagers and after a question was posed at the weekly Erie County COVID briefing, some are wondering if and when a partnership between Erie County and schools will happen to have vaccine clinics inside schools.
On Tuesday, County Executive Mark Poloncarz told reporters he'd like to have a partnership with schools, but can't because the county does not have the Pfizer vaccine. Moderna is only approved for adults, and that's the vaccine in the county's supply right now.
Michael Cornell of the Erie Niagara Superintendents Association says that's news to him. "We've not had a formal meeting between the school superintendents and the Erie County Department of Health since late summer," says Cornell. "We certainly have not had a formal conversation about using school districts as a vaccination site."
Cornell says there hasn't been a discussion on providing vaccinations to students in schools. "I think we want to be careful about making the connection between vaccinating students and having people think it's a condition of reopening schools five days a week," cautions Cornell. "There's nothing in any guidance that says students need to be vaccinated to reopen schools. In fact, school should be reopen now."
As far as opening up schools to clinics, "We're always happy to pitch in and do our part," says Cornell. "We have since the beginning done diagnostic testing when it's required, We also helped facilitate vaccination of school employees because it certainly gave our employees a strong sense of safety while they're at work." While not speaking for all superintendents in the region, Cornell says it's safe to say they've willing to contribute to the public health effort.
