ROCKINGHAM — Richmond County teachers rolled up their sleeves Wednesday to take advantage of the COVID-19 vaccine.
According to Richmond County Schools Public Information Officer Jasmine Hager, 208 personnel signed up for the clinic at Richmond Senior High School.
“Our teachers and staff have expressed their excitement at the chance to be able to receive their vaccines, and we are grateful that we were able to provide the opportunity to begin vaccinating our staff members today,” Hagar said in a statement.
Teachers, school staff and other child care workers across North Carolina were made eligible for the vaccine starting this week.
“It was important for us to make sure vaccines were available for our teachers February 24,” Superintendent Dr. Jeff Maples said in a statement. “We wanted to make the process easy for our teachers, work out the details and coordinate this for them. We are grateful for John Jackson and Dr. Tommy Jarrell for partnering with us. I also want to thank our Director of Student Services Dr. Wendy Jordan for organizing the clinics for our teachers and support staff.”
Students returned to in-person instruction at the first of the month.
Richmond County Board of Education member Ronald Tillman was one of two to vote against the measure, along with Daryl Mason, because he wanted to wait a month to make sure cases would be dropping and to get teachers vaccinated.
The district reported no new cases among staff or students on Wednesday.
Since classes started back, the number of staff members to test positive for the coronavirus has risen from 111 to 130. There have also been, since late August, 66 traditional (in-class) students and 232 virtual students to test positive.
Other frontline workers in Group 3 will be eligible on March 10.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reports that 6,316 people in Richmond County have received the first of the two-dose Moderna vaccine, and 3,037 have been administered both. The doses are given about four weeks apart.
To sign up for the vaccine locally, call 910-417-3030 and leave your name, date of birth and phone number. Local health officials ask that callers not leave multiple messages.
Vaccinations aren’t restricted by residency.
To schedule an appointment in Scotland County, call 910-291-7654 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.
Across the state line, McLeod Health Cheraw will also be holding a vaccination clinic from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at Fisher Hill Community Baptist Church, 3282 West Market St. Ext., Cheraw, South Carolina.
The clinic is available for health care workers, first responders and individuals 65 and older, and a work badge or photo ID must be provided.
