Second, a home health nurse will administer the vaccinations (and will
be paid for by the Department of Health). Having a home health nurse
administer the vaccine will avoid associating our school staff with
this action. The vaccine is provided free of charge by the Vermont
Department of Health. By hosting a school-run clinic, we also maintain
control over the structure.
This will not be the "assembly line, mass vaccination" model described
in last week's article. Our school nurse and I are working on a plan
that will minimize any student anxiety and maintain the privacy and
dignity of children. While we expect to be vaccinating over 90 children
throughout the day, this will not be a "mass vaccination" in the way
that those words make it sound.
Under our current plan, minimal children will be waiting in line.
Rather, a constant rotation of just a few children will take place.
Again, this is one of the major differences between a school-run clinic
and one run by the Department of Health.
In many ways, this has been a frustrating process for administrators,
who have received inconsistent and varying information from the
Department of Health. We are all making decisions that we believe are
in the best interest of our individual schools and children. I have a
tremendous amount of respect for the individual decisions of my
colleagues, but, after reading last week's article, I believed some
clarification around our specific clinic was in order.
As always, please contact me with any questions.
Chris Dodge, Principal
Fayston Elementary School
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