INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — Most Cuyahoga County educators will go to the Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio in Independence over the next two weeks to get the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
More than 23,000 school staff will get the vaccine over the next two weeks. 1,920 people will come through the system each day, with about 240 people getting vaccinated every hour.
“I don’t think you could do 23,000 people without having some kind of time frame like that,” said ESC of Northeast Ohio Director of Operations and Development Dr. Jennifer Dodd.
It’s part of Governor DeWine’s plan to get all students back in their classrooms by March 1. School districts have told News 5 despite the Governor’s request, they’ll return to in-person in striation when they feel it’s safe.
Giant Eagle is delivering the vaccines and asked to work from one location while vaccinating educational staff in the county. That’s when Dodd organized school by the number of staff they need to vaccinate to make the numbers work.
“We knew we had 1,920 [vaccines] a day so you just start taking out a certain amount for this district, and a certain amount for this district and we put them in like a puzzle that way,” said Dodd.
It’s a welcome development for parents like Constellation Schools’ Andrea Janosik, who has helped her fifth-grader through remote learning since March.
“[After] spring break, they never came back so it’s almost been a year,” said Janosik.
That’s created all the predictable challenges for every family with students who are learning remotely: Distractions around the house, being separated from friends, and often less access to teachers.
The vaccination blitz starting in Cuyahoga County could change that eventually.
“It’s definitely important [for school staff to get vaccinated] and it’s going to help us get a really good start to the following school year,” said Janosik.
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.