The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, in partnership with Kaiser Permanente, announced Friday what they’re calling a bold plan to help vaccinate all Washington school teachers and staff once the state advances into the next COVID-19 vaccination phase.
The “Get Ready” plan calls for up to 20 vaccination sites along the Interstate 5 corridor and in Spokane, capable of offering vaccines for up to 80 percent of public and private school employees statewide.
Educators and staff in K-12 facilities are expected to be eligible to receive the vaccine once 50 percent of the current eligible population in both tiers of Phase 1A and tier one of 1B are vaccinated. The “Get Ready” plan does not allow teachers and school staff to jump ahead in the vaccination phases, but rather, state Superintendent Chris Reykdal said during a media briefing Friday the intent is to vaccinate educators more efficiently.
“What we wanted to do,” Reykdal said, “was make clear to educators we’re working hard to expedite a process that in the next four to six weeks, when we get the green light, we are going to be ready.”
