Dist. 204 superintendent: Process for vaccinating employees 'bizarre and convoluted'

A lack of supply has been the greatest hurdle in vaccinating educators in two Naperville-area school districts, their superintendents say.

Naperville Unit District 203 and Indian Prairie Unit District 204 have developed internal procedures and partnered with community providers to administer the shots as they become available. But the COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been inconsistent and slower than expected, school leaders say, bringing frustrations and challenges for teachers and other employees as their districts ramp up in-person learning opportunities.

"The process of getting vaccinations for our staff has been one of the most bizarre and convoluted processes that I have known," District 204 Superintendent Adrian Talley said during a school board meeting this week.

Indian Prairie was among the first local districts to vaccinate Phase 1A employees, thanks to a partnership with Jewel-Osco in Will County, Talley said. About 350 occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech pathologists and nurses received the shot on Jan. 20.

But progress has since stalled. A Feb. 3 district vaccination clinic was canceled due to a mix-up with the state health department, he said, and a deal with Mariano's to administer shots at six schools has not come to fruition yet because of a lack of doses available.

With roughly 3,500 staff members eligible under Phase 1B, Naperville District 203 is in a similar predicament, Superintendent Dan Bridges said. Employees have registered to receive the vaccine, and the district is "ready to go" from an organizational standpoint, he said, but the demand outweighs the supply.

After months of remote learning, both districts have recently moved into hybrid instructional models, sending a growing number of students back to the classroom on an alternating schedule.

"Part of our strategy to get kids in school five days a week relies on that vaccine," Bridges said, calling the lack of availability "extremely frustrating ... especially to our staff and essential workers who want to be in front of kids every day."

Edward-Elmhurst Health has been working closely with local school districts, first responders and other essential workers to set up vaccination appointments, hospital system officials said, but the distribution depends on the supply.

While the DuPage County Health Department has been trying to provide equitable access to all eligible residents, the "extremely limited supply of COVID-19 vaccine means that it has been challenging for many people to get vaccinated," spokeswoman Stephanie Calvillo said in a statement.

Each of the last three weeks, the county has received about 12,000 doses to be administered among the remaining individuals in Phase 1A, as well as 270,000 people eligible in Phase 1B, she said. DuPage has more than 28,000 educators and school staff members countywide.

With help from the Regional Office of Education, the health department has developed a vaccination plan linking providers with 13 "points of dispensing" throughout the high school districts, Calvillo said, though it could be several weeks before the county has enough supply to launch that program.