San Jose Unified secures vaccine appointments for all school staff

The San Jose Unified School District has secured vaccine appointments for 100 percent of its staff, officials announced Friday.

Through a collaboration with its own health professionals, the state and the county, the school district will be able to vaccinate all 4,000 employees with both doses before they return to campus on April 21.

This was strategic, school district leaders said. The reopening date of April 21 was chosen so that all K-12 staff could get both doses of vaccine and have an additional two weeks after inoculation to build immunity before returning to campus.

Vaccinated teachers would also be exempt from having to quarantine per state guidelines, even if a staff member, student or close contact tests positive for Covid-19 — “solving one of the biggest challenges in returning students to in-person learning: absences due to quarantine,” according to a press release from the district.

San Jose Unified is Santa Clara County’s largest school district, with 50 licensed nurses on staff, of which more than two-thirds are volunteering with the county’s health department to administer vaccines.

San Jose Unified Superintendent Nancy Albarran said:

“Reaching this milestone in such a short amount of time is evidence of what is possible when state and local agencies work together towards a common goal.”

The district was able to secure appointments for 100 percent of their staff within four days of educators being eligible to receive the vaccine on Feb. 28, Albarran said.