Covid vaccinations for teachers, child care workers, Tier 3, to begin March 15
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announces updated vaccination schedule at a Jefferson City press conference Feb. 25
Missouri teachers, child care workers and other residents grouped in Tier 3 of the state’s priority ranking will be able to get Covid-19 vaccinations beginning March 15, Gov. Mike Parson announced today (Feb. 25).
Many area school districts that had been teaching most of their students in online distance learning, including Kansas City Public Schools, the Hickman Mills School District and some charter schools, have been making plans to return many children to their buildings in March.
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Access to vaccines has been seen as an important reassurance for teachers to return to buildings, and both KCPS and Hickman Mills are two of several districts that have been making plans with Truman Medical Centers to set up vaccination clinics for teachers and staff.
But those plans have been on hold because Missouri’s ranking system prioritizing vaccinations placed teachers in Tier 3, which has not yet been opened for vaccination.
“I know Truman (Medical Centers) has a plan in place for how to give vaccinations to teachers in Kansas City,” Parson said in his press conference. “Now they have two weeks to prepare for that moment.”
The vaccinations are being given to people as they become eligible for a vaccine according to the state’s ranking system that prioritizes people at higher health risk and whose jobs put them at higher risk.
As of Feb. 25, Missouri is vaccinating Phase 1A, Phase 1B – Tier 1 and Phase 1B – Tier 2 populations.
Tier 2 includes: Anyone aged 65 and older. Adults of any age at risk because of illness such as cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD, heart conditions, weakened immune systems, certain diabetes and other conditions.
By adding Tier 3, the list of populations that can be vaccinated will add K-12 education, childcare, communications infrastructure, information technology, food and agriculture and more.
Many school districts have been teaching elementary grades in-person for several months or even since the start of the school years — including North Kansas City, Grandview and Fort Osage school districts. In most of those cases, secondary grades have been phased in more slowly, typically in a hybrid mode, with some children in school buildings and some online.
Center School District returned its elementary grades to its buildings this week.
The Centers for Disease Control has been encouraging schools to bring children back into school buildings — with appropriate safety measures such as masks, social distancing and disinfecting — based on data that increasingly shows schools have been less susceptible to spreading the virus that other community environments.
Several vaccination efforts are ongoing as vaccines become available. Officials recommend signing up on local, county and state vaccination surveys.
Residents in Kansas City can also call 3-1-1.
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