Salem Public Schools Looks To Host Vaccination Clinics

SALEM, MA — In a proactive effort to make coronavirus vaccinations easily accessible as quickly as possible for some of the city's youngest residents, Salem Public Schools is seeking to arrange vaccination clinics for newly eligible students.

Superintendent of Schools Steve Zrike and Chief of Opportunity and Resource Chelsea Banks unveiled a proposal to the School Committee on Monday in anticipation of Tuesday's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emergency-use authorization for the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.

Banks said the proposal was to have clinics scheduled for various days at different times based on availability and what was believed to be the best timing for each school, but that each site will be monitored to determine whether better days of the week or times are necessary for any future clinics.

Schools were proposed to have two vaccine clinics three weeks apart so students can get their first and second shots in the same time window.

Students ages 5 to 11 will receive the authorized one-third Pfizer shot, while those 12 and older will receive the authorized full dose.

Salem teen vaccination rates lag below the state average and those of area communities such as Beverly, Lynn and Peabody. Banks and Zrike said as of early this week 66 percent of students 12 through 15 had received a shot, while only 47 percent of teens ages 16 to 19 have been vaccinated.

That percentage is over 70 percent in both age groups statewide.

Officials said the vaccination rates are especially low among 9th and 10th graders, and 5th graders since many of them were only recently eligible for the vaccine until this week. They said rates are also lower among African-American and Latino students.

"We know that this is the only way that we can ensure the health of safety of our community," Zrike said of much higher school vaccination rates. "And more importantly, to move beyond all the mitigation strategies. They are annoying. The masks, and all the other distancing, and all the other gymnastics we've had to do.

"We want to move away from that in time. And the only way to do that is to continue to push vaccinations for everyone in the community."

(EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this post had specific dates and times for clinics that were subject to change as the state unveiled its vaccination schedule for students 5 to 11.)

"Because we are reliant on the state and local hospitals to provide these clinics for us, the dates are changing and parents should keep an eye on their ParentSquare messages as we roll out clinic dates," school officials told Patch on Thursday.

The proposal was for Salem High School to also be scheduled for a clinic in an effort to get more older schools vaccinated ahead of the Dec. 1 district vaccine requirement for all students taking part in "high-respiration" extracurricular activities such as sports, band and chorus.

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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