High school students were vaccinated against COVID-19 at Columbus North High School on Friday.
A COVID-19 vaccine clinic for students was held from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the high school. Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. officials have said that the vaccine is not required for staff or students.
Communications coordinator Josh Burnett said that 131 students were vaccinated at the clinic, which was a collaboration between Columbus Regional Health and the school district. Burnett said that CRH received and mixed the vaccine before sending labeled, prefilled syringes to the nurses. He added that the supply would be restocked throughout the day as needed, and all medical supplies were prepared.
“The area is being monitored by CRH EMTs, as well city fire department EMTs,” he said. Many individuals from BCSC, including nurses, administrative staff and support staff, helped out with the clinic.
North’s second clinic is planned for May 7. For East, the preliminary, planned clinic dates are April 23 and May 14. Students from Columbus Signature Academy New Tech who choose to participate do so through their home schools of North and East. Burnett said that only the Pfizer vaccine will be administered at these clinics.
“Priority has been given to 16 and 17 year old students, but 18-year-olds can register as well,” he said.
Hoosiers 16 years and older became eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations on March 31. As stated on the official Indiana website for vaccinations, anyone younger than age 18 must receive the Pfizer vaccine if they choose to be vaccinated, as it is the only COVID-19 vaccine to receive Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA for that age group. According to the FDA, the Pfizer vaccine is authorized for individuals 16 years and older.
Burnett said that East’s clinic will basically mirror North’s, and the registration process will likely be the same, with an e-alert for families that leads them to the same landing page with directions on how to register and turn in the appropriate form.
For Friday’s clinic, parents were directed to ourshot.in.gov and told to select Columbus Regional Keller Avenue as their site. After entering eligibility information, the next step was to select “Columbus Regional Hosp Mobile PVAX” and the date April 16.
Parents must also complete a vaccine parent permission form, which can either be emailed to [email protected] or brought in print form to the student’s scheduled vaccine appointment.
Burnett commended BCSC nurses and Director of Health Services Kelli Thompson for their hard work amid the pandemic.
“COVID-19 presents challenges for our schools every day,” he said. “I think the thing that has been very impressive has been the collaboration between our BCSC nurses and Columbus Regional Health to make this run smoothly. … We want to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to give people the opportunity, if they want to receive the vaccine.”
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Registration for Columbus East’s vaccine clinic will likely be announced with an e-alert. To sign up for BCSC e-alerts, go to bcscschools.org/E-AlertRegistration.
The landing page with registration information for Friday’s clinic was bcscschools.org/crhclinic.
Questions can be directed to [email protected].
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