CSIU to host vax clinics for 2K Valley teachers, school workers

Eric Scicchitano, The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
·2 min read

Mar. 6—An estimated 2,000 Valley educators and contracted employees will receive a COVID-19 vaccine during a four-day clinic next week hosted by the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit in Montandon.

John Kurelja, assistant executive director, said the invite-only clinic is for educators and contractors from local school districts. Those who work with at-risk populations like special needs students will be prioritized followed by primary school and then high school educators and contracted employees like bus drivers.

The school employees received surveys to fill out and return to determine prioritization, he said.

"Every district has an allocation that's given to them by the state," Kurelja said. "The goal is to vaccinate all education employees and contractors over the next month-and-a-half."

Aspen Medical Institute conducts the clinics. The CSIU simply serves as hosts and facilitators. Gov. Tom Wolf announced the plan to vaccinate educators this week following the federal Emergency Use Approval of the Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccine.

"There will be another round at the end of March, beginning of April. By the time we're done with that I think we'll have everybody," Kurelja said.

Kurelja said an unspecified number of Valley educators were previously vaccinated through Geisinger.

Kurelja said during a Friday interview with WKOK that Geisinger and Evangelical hospitals offered help to advise CSIU on how to set up its building for the clinic. He added that the Pennsylvania National Guard and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency may be involved at the clinic.

The goal of the clinic from the perspective of the governor's office, Kurelja said, is to vaccinate educators and allow students attending remotely to return to in-person classes and free up parents and guardians who may be spending their days at home with them to return to work.

He noted that many schools outside the Valley haven't opened since last year. That's not the case locally where public and private schools reopened at the start of the current school year.

"Our local educators have done a wonderful job keeping schools open," Kurelja said.