Mysti Christensen misses her students.
Due to the pandemic, Christensen’s middle and high school social studies and language arts classes have been virtual.
As she sat waiting to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday at Longmont United Hospital, Christensen felt a sense of hope that she would get to see her students face-to-face once again.
“It’s such a relief,” Christensen said. “It’s been a really long journey this year. We’ve just missed our kids so much. We’ve been working at school, but haven’t had kids in the building.”
Christensen was one of more than 200 educators to receive the first dose of the vaccine on Saturday at Centura Health’s Longmont United Hospital. In Boulder, Boulder Community Health hosted its largest vaccination clinic yet Saturday at Della Cava Medical Pavilion, where 1,000 Boulder Valley School District staff members were signed up to get inoculated.
Dr. Antony Pearson, chief medical officer for Longmont United Hospital, said the more than 200 educators vaccinated Saturday included teachers from more than 15 schools across the Front Range from Fort Collins to the St. Vrain Valley School District. Among those on the list were charter and private schools.
“We were worried that the smaller schools didn’t have the same access that the standard school districts had,” Pearson said, adding that his father taught in Minnesota. “I totally understand the importance and the impact that the teachers have. It’s a very important group to make safe.”
Teachers and people 65 to 69 were able to get the vaccine starting Feb. 8, The Denver Post reported. Pre K-12 educators and child care workers are part of the state’s 1B.2 vaccination distribution plan. People in the 1B.2 category were prioritized after highest-risk health care workers, individuals in 1A, Coloradans 70 and older, and moderate-risk health care workers and first responders in 1B.1.
As Longmont preschool teacher Julia Hill-Wright drove to the hospital on Mountain View Avenue on Saturday morning to get the vaccine, she thought about all the people she knew who had been impacted by the virus.
“While I haven’t lost anyone or known anyone suffering through the disease, it feels like an important civic duty,” Hill-Wright said. “Socially, thinking about how it’s impacted other peoples’ lives, it makes me feel like if I have the chance (to get the vaccine) I should.”
Getting the shot Saturday was “easy” and “painless,” she said.
Boulder Valley School District teachers who received their shots at the Della Cava Medical Pavilion shared their gratitude for the opportunity.
Carole Brandt, a fifth grade Douglass Elementary School teacher in Boulder, said it “was very exciting” to be vaccinated.
Brandt hasn’t had the virus, but said she’s been exposed. On two occasions, she’s had to be quarantined. She noted that transmission of the coronavirus happened outside of the school. Knowing the time will soon come when she won’t have to potentially face another quarantine was a good feeling.
“My daughter said as I was heading out, ‘No one has ever been so excited to get a shot,'” Brandt said. “I think it’s so exciting. Every step toward normal is better for everybody.”
Eighth grade science teacher Dave Crowder, who works at Louisville Middle School, was also among those to get a shot at the clinic.
“You can feel the needle come in and that’s about it — it’s not painful,” Crowder said. “To me the meaning is that it feels good to be treated well. It’s a positive thing that our district is doing for us.”
Boulder Valley School District spokesperson Randy Barber said roughly 58% of the district’s eligible 4,100 employees have been given the opportunity to be vaccinated, as of Saturday. Based on the vaccine supply, Barber said district leaders believe all eligible staff will have the chance to get a first dose of the vaccine by Feb. 27 and fully inoculated by mid-April.
BVSD prioritized its eligibility for the clinic by the ages of “student-facing” staff, starting with people 60 years and older.
BVSD Superintendent Rob Anderson thanked Gov. Jared Polis for prioritizing educators and Boulder Community Health for hosting the clinic.
“It’s one step closer to where we need to be, which is having our educators vaccinated,” Anderson said in a phone interview Friday. “It’s going to add another layer of safety onto the levels we’ve already added in our schools. I think it’s an incredibly significant moment. The fact that (BCH) can vaccinate 1,000 people in a day is a tremendous accomplishment.”
Spokesperson for the St. Vrain Valley School District Kerri McDermid said that Centura Health worked with a list of eligible staff members and contacted them directly to set up an appointment. Out of 4,752 employees, there are 3,934 who are vaccine-eligible. She said roughly 63% of eligible employees had received an opportunity to be vaccinated, not including the number of appointments set up Saturday.
“We are continuing to work with our providers to secure vaccination appointments for the remaining 37 percent of eligible employees who have not yet received an appointment invitation, and hope to have that process completed over the next several weeks,” McDermid wrote in an email.
Boulder County Public Health reported as of Thursday that 33,837 residents have received at least one dose and 16,101 people have received both doses.
Longmont United Hospital was one of six vaccine clinics for educators hosted by Centura Health across the state Saturday. As of Friday, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 630,634 people statewide immunized with one dose and 290,331 people who have received both doses.
In the weeks to come, Krista McClain, Boulder Community Health director of enterprise project management, hopes to do two clinics over the next two Saturdays for educators. How many vaccinations can be distributed, though, is dependent on supply, which the state said varies from week to week.
“When the governor announced a couple of weeks ago that our focus would turn toward educators … we really jumped at the opportunity,” McClain said. “It’s a no-brainer to serve the educators. By serving educators, we’re serving not just them; it’s the families and children of our community.”
Before teachers left the hospital or medical center on Saturday, they were able to set up an appointment for their second vaccination dose.
Back at Longmont United Hospital, Longmont preschool teacher Hill-Wright described the sense of hope she felt after getting the vaccine.
“It’s a little surreal. Definitely bittersweet with how things are,” she said. “I feel really grateful. It finally feels like a light at the end of the tunnel.”
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February 14, 2021 at 08:53AM
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Teachers across the Front Range get COVID-19 vaccine Saturday in Longmont, Boulder - Boulder Daily Camera
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