LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) released guidance Tuesday to assist Commonwealth school districts with preparing to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine in spring 2021. 

What You Need To Know

  • Kentucky Department of Education releases vaccine guidance for school districts

  • Educators could begin receiving vaccinations as early as Feb. 2021

  • School districts must submit a plan listing who will get vaccinated

  • All educators are eligible for the vaccinations

“Learning virtually is not kind of a natural thing for human beings to do. I think, you know, that we are social creatures, and so it’s hard,” said Brent McKim, president of Jefferson County Teachers Association (JCTA), a union for over 6,000 personnel employees of Jefferson County Public Schools, including teachers. McKim said educators have been stressed as most people have been during the pandemic.

“They’re doing remarkable work under high pressure and tough conditions,” McKim said.

The first vaccinations of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were given Mon., Dec. 14, and Moderna’s vaccine could be approved for emergency use later this week.

“I think there’s hope and excitement that a vaccine may be close, and there’s trepidation because a vaccine may be close,” said McKim, regarding what he’s hearing from JCTA teacher members about vaccinated next year.

Gov. Andy Beshear said in Monday’s COVID-19 briefing that he expects educators can start being vaccinated on Feb. 1, 2021. Beshear also added that he hopes that the timeline can be moved up. 

McKim said because the approval process for the vaccines has been expedited, some JCTA teachers have concerns about its safety and long-term safety. 

“Of course, millions of people will be taking the vaccine, and I think we’ll be able to see if there are unexpected things, at least in the short term, before it reaches teachers, but I think they’re worried about that,” McKim said. He also said another concern he has heard is about the allergic reactions from the vaccine. 

KDE’s guidance assisting Kentucky school districts with distributing the COVID-19 vaccine says all employees of the school district are eligible for the vaccine during the educator vaccine distribution period. 

To prepare for those COVID-19 vaccines, school districts have to submit a list by Dec. 30, 2020, of who plans to take them. The guidance also states if an employee chooses not to be on the initial vaccine list, they will have to wait until the vaccine is available to the general public.

According to Kentucky’s current COVID-19 draft vaccination plan, young adults and children are set to be some of the last people to be vaccinated.  

“I think the bottom line is that teachers, I think, are anxious for the vaccine to be available to all the educators across the state, and, at the same time, they respect that not every educator is going to be ready to take it on day one,” McKim told Spectrum News 1. He said there needs to be flexibility when it comes to the vaccine rollout, for both educators and students, by offering virtual options.

“Let’s let those teachers that may have health concerns and so forth wait a little while before they have to make that decision and work with the kids virtually,” McKim said.

KDE also said in its COVID-19 guidelines that “while all educators will have the opportunity to be vaccinated during the educator vaccine distribution period, it is unlikely that all school and district personnel will be vaccinated at the same time.” 

You can view KDE’s guidance to school districts on the vaccine rollout here.

Related Stories