Starting next month students and families in the Detroit public school community district will be able to roll up their sleeves and get the COVID vaccine at school.
"I've been advocating for this for a while and finally we’ve been authorized to do so,” says DPSCD superintendent Doctor Nikolai Vitti.
Full-time and contracted nurses at DPSCD will be able to administer the COVID vaccine.
“We’re going to start off in a couple of schools and ramp up where at least 50% of our schools have the vaccine,” says Vitti.
“I think that’s an excellent idea,” says Donna Thornton who is a former principal for DPSCD.
Thornton says some parents don’t have transportation to get them to vaccine sites, so having the shot in schools will help. Thorton also says it will also offset parents who are hesitant.
"Again I speak from experience they trust the nurses at the school, so if they are trusting the nurses at the school with their health currently, they will be more apt to get the vaccine from that particular nurse," says Thornton.
Natalia Russell is the current principal at Catherine C. Blackwell Institute in Detroit agrees.
"9 times out of 10 every trust whats going on in the school your home away from home so you have a sense of security confidence and comfortability with your neighborhood school,” says Russell.
“It’s all about equity and access,” says Marci Oliver.
Oliver has two boys attending DPSCD schools. They're both vaccinated and she is hopeful more of their classmates will get the shot so they can return to face to face learning, because she says virtual school isn’t working.
"I think it’s been very clear that it has impacted our students ability to score well to do well to compete academically so if this has the ability to keep those doors open, I would definitely support it,” says Oliver.
Dr. Vitti says as an extra layer of protection the district will also be requiring all parents sign a consent form allowing non-invasive COVID testing if they refuse, they children will have to remain going to school online.
