Mt. Pleasant teachers get vaccines

MT. PLEASANT - Friday in the Mt. Pleasant High School commons, during a professional development day, Henry County Public Health held a vaccination clinic for teachers and support staff.

Public Health administered the first dose of the two-dose Moderna vaccine to district staff who opted to receive the vaccine. Hundreds of district teachers, paraeducators, administration, janitorial staff, secretaries and food service workers lined the hallway of the high school building anxiously waiting for their dose of the vaccine.

Henry County Public Health and school nurses Sue Weiss and Jennifer Streigiel assisted in administering the vaccine to district staff.

One of those who decided to get vaccinated was high school English teacher Mikaela Burris, who got the vaccine to protect her family including her husband with preexisting conditions. Burris isn't exactly worried about the side effects of the vaccine and all of the scary news surrounding it.

'No, I'm not worried about the side effects I figure it's nothing worse than getting COVID. So I'll take this over getting COVID,” Burris said.

Burris said she feels safer returning to in-person learning in the district now that a good portion of the district's staff has received the first dose of the vaccine.

'I feel safer coming back to school, and I feel like I'm less likely to spread it to my students, which is really important to me,” Burris said.

However, many district staff members were comfortable with in-person learning before being vaccinated, citing good mask-wearing and proper safety measures leading to little to no spread of COVID-19 at schools.

'I'm fine with it right now, it's not been a big worry for me. Students have masks on, the staff has masks on, and there isn't a whole bunch of bad stuff going on. It's when you get outside of school,” said high school Assistant Principal Mike Wilson, who received the first dose of the vaccine at the clinic.

High School choir director Marlene DePriest, who also received the vaccine, is happy with how students are handling mas mandates and social distancing.

'You know I‘ve never been super nervous myself and the kids have been really good about wearing a mask and doing the social distancing, and they don't complain about it, so I've never been super worried, but this is gonna help I think. Eventually, we will all get the vaccine and we'll be good,” DePriest said.

Because not many students in the district have been vaccinated - and those vaccinations are most likely months away - teachers still face the possibility of getting COVID, which can still infect a vaccinated person for up to two weeks after their second dose.

Mikaela Burris hopes to see students get vaccinated for the virus when available.

'I'm hoping that most [students] will get [vaccinated] or will be able to get vaccinated to protect themselves. We are trying to do our best to try and protect the students, but this is just another way to protect students,” Burris said.

District staff and teachers are scheduled to receive their second dose of the Moderna vaccine in early March. The date is tentatively scheduled 28 days after the first dose.