By Danielle Ray, Senior Reporter
Over 700 Wachusett Regional School District staff received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on March 17 at Naquag Elementary School in Rutland, Mass.
“Having staff have the vaccination will provide a level of safety to our teachers, administration, and support staff that goes beyond the various mitigation measures we have in place to protect against COVID,” said WRSD Superintendent Darryll McCall.
McCall said the large-scale staff vaccination was provided “thanks to the efforts of the Rutland vaccination team and our own administration.”
With all the district nurses assisting with administering vaccines, all schools across the district were asynchronously learning that day. Staff returned to the clinic three weeks from their first shot for the second dose.
There are 1,044 total Wachusett Regional School District staff. While some of them had already been vaccinated prior to March 17, Houghton Elementary School fourth grade teacher Darlene Stoever was one of hundreds who received the vaccine at that clinic.
(L. to R.) Houghton Elementary School teacher aides Karen Mitchell, Angella Daigle, Elizabeth Elkas, and Rhonda Croteau were all vaccinated at the March 17 clinic.
COURTESY: Kate Blehar
“I am incredibly grateful to our district for providing the vaccination clinic for our district staff,” Stoever said. “I consider myself fortunate to be given the opportunity to get the first dose of the vaccine and signed up without hesitation. I felt that it was important to get vaccinated so that our schools can start to return to a place where the children and staff can feel safe. This has been such a challenging school year, but the vaccinations will bring us one step closer to ‘normalcy.’”
Stoever said the Rutland vaccine clinic “was so quick and easy.”
“The staff was incredibly professional and informative,” she said. “I was surprised at how simple the entire procedure was. I walked out of the clinic feeling a sense of relief, and with the hope of a much brighter future.”
As a collaborative vaccine clinic site, well over 15,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Rutland since the first public vaccination clinic on February 9 and that number keeps growing. Most of the clinics are being held at the Rutland Public Library on Main St.
“We also have been doing home visits to people who are not able to leave their homes to come to a clinic due to mobility or other health issues,” said Rutland firefighter/paramedic Erin Cullinane, adding they have also done drive-through first responder clinics at the Rutland fire station like one she was part of at the Sterling fire station.
“The Rutland Fire Department has been working with the Rutland Board of Health to execute multiple vaccine clinics in town and in our surrounding communities, including the one we did at the Senior Center in Sterling,” she said.
WRSD sends a message of gratitude to the Rutland Vaccination Team
COURTESY: Erin Cullinane
According to Cullinane, the Department of Public Health has committed 2,340 doses to their vaccine clinics each week.
“Our goal is to obtain 3,750 doses or greater each week as the vaccine becomes more available,” she said.
Rutland has a large freezer for vaccine doses storage that was purchased through a federal grant.
“The freezer has the capacity to hold over 50,000 doses of the vaccine,” Cullinane said. “The vaccines are stored at -80 degrees Celsius.”
The WRSD clinic began at 8 a.m. and by 3 p.m. 725 staff members had been vaccinated.
“One of the many things that we miss since COVID began is seeing the students, teachers, and faculty at our schools,” Cullinane said. “We miss doing fire safety classes, ‘High Five Fridays’, or even just stopping by to say hello to the children. We believe that vaccinating teachers and faculty is one big step closer to seeing our friends at school again.”