Raleigh, NC About 400 teachers, school staff and child care workers received their first vaccine shots against coronavirus in Wake County on Wednesday, the first day that educators are eligible in the state.
“I was amazed that I was selected so quickly,” said Jennifer Hyatt, an elementary school teaching assistant. “I feel like I can breathe, you know, a sigh of relief, because it’s a long year.”
Just a few days ago, it looked like educators would have to wait a while behind tens of thousands of health workers and people aged 65 or older who have already reported for vaccinations. But after Wake County officials reviewed the list and removed those who had signed up several times and others who had already been shot elsewhere, only about 100 names remained, enabling teachers to get right.
About 12,500 educators have already registered for shooting in Wake County, and about 3,000 of them have scheduled appointments, officials said.
“I think we’re really taking a turn in terms of our ability to keep up with the flow of people who need it,” said Matt Calabria, chairman of the Wake County Board of Commissioners. “We will be able to move quickly through educators and make sure they are vaccinated so they can come back to the classroom and feel more comfortable when they are there.”
Tawana Francis, a preschool teacher, said she protects her 3-year-old students and their families by being vaccinated.
“I feel like I’m doing my part to get back to a kind of normality again,” Francis said.
She has already contracted a coronavirus and she said she does not want the chance to get sick again.
“If you are a certain age and have underlying conditions because I am diabetic, I hoped every day and prayed that I would do well, because it worries you when you hear that the numbers are still being picked up,” she said.
Keith Sutton, chairman of the Wake County Board of Education, said it would take a while to vaccinate as many as 11,000 school district teachers and 9,000 other school workers.
“It’s going to take a while, and that’s mainly because of the size of Wake County and the supply,” Sutton said.
As for Hyatt, her mother is 85 years old, and the pandemic kept them apart.
“I will be able to see my mother soon,” she said. ‘I will be more relaxed when I see her. That would be fantastic. “