Vaccines

 

The School Committee agenda for Monday, September 20th can be seen here.  (separate blog coming about the rest of the agenda...) 

Mandates for student vaccinations for students participating in extracurricular activities, school and club sponsored events and athletics will be discussed and possibly voted on.  

I have asked that the documents be linked asap so you can read it yourself but until then...

The Quick Summary: The draft policy is a mandate for students who are age-eligible through FDA approved vaccinations. In the case of a student who age eligible and is not vaccinated, a weekly PCR test is required.

How many of our students are vaccinated?

Department of Health (DPH) -  Vaccine tracker   - click on weekly municipal report to see chart below and compare.

columns are: county, town, age range, # of people in that group, % that is that age, # of age group partially vaxed, proportion of full town partially vaxed, fully vaccinated #, % of Vaccinated number per capita

Last column... Indicates % of Fully Vaccinated:
12-15 - 85%
16-19 - >95%

https://www.mass.gov/doc/weekly-covid-19-vaccination-report-september-16-2021/download

Why are School Committee Members making policy that have implications on health?

• Good question! It's one I've asked myself.  
• As you know, the School Committee's jurisdiction is Policy, Budget and Superintendent.
• In any policy that we write the purpose of that policy is to give the administration a path towards that will allow for the implementation of the desired goal of policy.
• In this case, the goal is vaccination for the most students possible because that is the guidance from the: 
• The World Health Organization
• The CDC 
• The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
• The first two key takeaways from the DESE guidance are: 
• "Students benefit from in-person learning, and safely returning to in-person instruction in the fall 2021 is a priority. 
• Vaccination is the leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Promoting vaccination can help schools safely return to in-person learning as well as extracurricular activities and sports."
• I know there are questions about the validity of the studies or the information that is being given. Good for us that we have a society that questions things and thinks critically! At the end of the day, we all have to wade through ALOT of information, check sources, consider it all and make a judgement. We also rely on the professionals in any sector to help distill and explain the volume of information. That is what I will continue to do when I think about these policy decisions. I need the people who are informing the policy so I can do my small piece in this food chain of decision making. 
• Using their training, the data, and all of the tried and true trusted methods of scientific research, Health professionals have to make the judgement about why, what and how they make the recommendations they make.
• Schools have to make that judgement about their policies
• Parents have to make that judgement for their children.

What else am I reading? 

• New England Journal of Medicine on Covid-19 Vaccine Effectiveness against Delta
• What does it mean to be FDA approved? 
• Hard questions about the Vaccine answered by the CDC

Looking for a Vaccine Clinic?

www.vaxfinder.mass.gov

Local clinics near Natick:  

Saturday, Oct. 2, 8:00 a.m. to noon

Location: Cafeteria
Newton North Sign Up Link: tinyurl.com/NEWTONNORTHVAX

Saturday, Oct. 2, 8:00 a.m. to noon
Location: Gymnasium
Newton South Sign Up Link: tinyurl.com/NEWTONSOUTHVAX