The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control are preparing to authorize the use of the Coronavirus vaccine to children aged 12-15. As a result, Gov. Jim Justice announced on Wednesday that officials in charge of the vaccine distribution efforts will be ready to set up vaccination clinics at schools in all 55 West Virginia counties.
“I am sure that they will have to have permission from their guardians,” Justice said regarding children getting the vaccine. “All these clinics will offer vaccines to all eligible West Virginians including students, parents and educators.”
According to Justice, the Department of Education estimates that there will be 78,000 students ages 12-15 who will be eligible to receive the vaccine.
West Virginia Superintendent of Schools Clayton Burch added that “In the last month, we’ve held focus groups with teachers, parents, and students. The interesting thing we’ve been able to talk about in these student roundtables is: ‘What does the future look like?’ And it all came back to vaccinations. Each one of the students talked about the role that vaccinations will play in the future of school.”
James Hoyer, WV Joint Interagency Task Force director, said that plenty of Pfizer vaccines are available to distribute in the schools when needed.
The Raleigh County School District has already created a survey to gather information regarding preferences for child vaccination.
The survey has two questions and can be found at https://boe.rale.k12.wv.us/.
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