Durham to start vaccinating school teachers and staff. But how many, how soon?

This story was updated at 8 p.m. Feb. 17, 2021, after Duke Health provided more details on the plan.

Durham community leaders have begun planning for teacher vaccinations starting Feb. 24, but how many and how quickly teachers will get their shots will depend on getting more vaccines, leaders said.

In an interview, Mayor Steve Schewel said he met with school and health care leaders Tuesday to come up with a plan to begin giving teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and other school workers COVID-19 vaccinations.

Durham County Health Director Dr. Rodney Jenkins, Durham Public Schools Superintendent Pascal Mubenga, school board Vice-chair Mike Lee, and several people from Duke Health attended the meeting.

Their goal? Up to 1,000 shots a week for school personnel, if the state allocates sufficient doses to cut though the backlog of thousands already waiting.

The vaccine requires two doses spaced about a month apart to reach full effectiveness.

Duke Health currently receives a base amount of about 3,000 doses a week from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, said Katie Galbraith, president of Duke University Hospital.

About 31,500 people are on Duke’s waiting list from Groups 1 and 2, which includes health care workers and adults over age 65. Over 7,000 people are on the waiting list from Group 3, for front line essential workers.

Gov. Roy Cooper announced Feb. 10 that teachers and childcare workers would be eligible for vaccines under Group 3 beginning Feb. 24.

Galbraith said she is committed to vaccinating Group 3 as soon as possible, but Duke Health must work through its 65 and older list and continue to prioritize people at high risk of health complications if they contract the coronavirus.

If Duke received more doses, it wouldn’t take long to get through its waiting list, she said.

“If all of a sudden there were 40,000 doses available, we could work through that in probably two weeks,” she said.

The biggest unknown, Galbraith said, is when they might start to see a bump in their allocations.

“That’s the biggest unknown for everyone across the state,” she said.

The Durham County Department of Public Health had 2,000 people on its waiting list as of Wednesday, department spokesperson Alecia Smith said in an email.

The department is still working with Duke to determine next steps for vaccinating teachers, Smith said. The county currently isn’t taking new appointments.

Schewel estimated that about 9,000 school personnel in public, charter and private schools need vaccines.

The disparate impact of remote learning

The issue of whether schools should remain closed or reopen has divided Durham parents, with many parents saying teachers need to be vaccinated in order for classrooms to be safe, The News & Observer reported.

The Durham Association of Educators has pushed the DPS Board of Education to prioritize vaccination of all school employees before buildings are open to staff and students.

Schewel said he doesn’t support Senate Bill 37, which would mandate an in-person learning option for schools across the state, because he thinks re-opening should be a local decision.

But the lack of in-person instruction has hurt some Durham students more than others, he said.

“I think we all know that so many of our students, especially our Black and Brown students, our students who are in poverty, so many of them are suffering the most by not being in school, in person,” he said. “And so everybody, teachers, school board members, everybody agrees that needs to happen as soon as it safely can.”

The school board has scheduled an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss the district’s response to SB 37.

This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 10:12 AM.