JANESVILLE, Wis. — On Thursday night the Janesville School District announced that there would be no school next Friday to allow 1,300 district staff to get a COVID-19 vaccine through Mercyhealth.
But the Wisconsin Department of Health Services said teachers are not eligible to get vaccinated yet. Still, the school staff are planning to get vaccinated.
“Per Mercyhealth, the district is still on schedule to receive vaccinations next week as yesterday’s release indicated,” said Patrick Gasper with the School District of Janesville.
The state is still working to vaccinate the 1A population, which includes healthcare workers and nursing home residents and staff.
Teachers could be in group 1B, along with prisoners and people older than 70, but DHS has not announced the qualifications for that next group yet. All we know so far is that police and fire department staff will be in 1B.
“What we’re really trying to do is cover certain populations first and then move on to others. That is what creates an equitable situation across the state,” said DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk.
She said if vaccinators have extra doses, they should be saved or given back to DHS. Hospitals and public health departments are not supposed to move on to begin vaccinating group 1B yet.
“We’ve asked people to follow the same rules together. In fact they’ve signed a contract to do that,” said Willems Van Dijk. “If people have excess vaccine, we ask them to let us know and we’ll redistribute it to get to the appropriate population.”
The School District of Janesville’s plan has created confusion in Rock County. In Thurdsay’s press release, the district said the Rock County Public Health Department “is allowing the region to move on to group 1-B of the vaccine prioritization list.”
But in a statement Friday morning, the Rock County Public Health Department said it’s currently still in phase 1A.
“There are still people who meet the criteria of Phase 1A who would like to be vaccinated,” said Jessica Turner, Public Health Communications Specialist for the county.
Mercyhealth has also said it’s still in 1A.
“We are currently in the process in planning for the vaccination of those in phase 1B while we continue to offer vaccine to those health care workers in phase 1A who are willing to accept it. We have had discussions with DHS this morning, and (are) working collaboratively with those who meet the criteria for vaccination,” said Don R Janczak, Mercyhealth’s Director of Pharmacy, in a statement Friday.
Still, Gov. Tony Evers said the communication of the school district’s vaccination plan wasn’t good.
“It’s going to be hard to undo that, frankly,” said Evers. “While we would’ve preferred a different outcome, the fact of the matter is they made these plans. They announced it publicly and they will likely go forward with it.”
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