Talawanda Teachers Scheduled for COVID-19 Vaccine

By: Rita Barclay-Hart

As the country moves forward with vaccinations, Talawanda is following. Dr. Ed Theroux, Talawanda’s superintendent, announced that Talawanda teachers and full-time employees, including bus drivers, custodians, and coaches will be receiving vaccinations on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021.

This comes after Governor Mike DeWine recently announced Ohio will be moving on with vaccinating teachers. Ohio’s goal is to have every teacher in the state have the opportunity to get vaccinated by the end of February. 

All Butler County schools, including Edgewood, Ross, Butler Tech, and New Mimai will also be vaccinating their teachers next Thursday, with Kroger expecting to vaccinate an estimated 1,000 people. Teachers will have the option to go get vaccinated, but it will not be a requirement.  Vaccinations will take place at Lakota West High School.

As for Talawanda students, Thursday, Feb. 4 will be an asynchronous learning day for students. There will be no busing, in-person classes, or zooms scheduled so that all staff who want to get vaccinated can be accommodated.

In Butler County, there have been a total of over 31,000 corona cases, over 900 hospitalizations, and over 200 deaths. Currently, roughly 4.5 % of the Butler County population has been vaccinated. 

As of now, it is not known if teachers will be receiving the Moderna or the Pfizer version of the vaccine, and there will need to be a second dose administered roughly one month after the first. Teachers will not have the 95% immunity the vaccine provides until about 14 days after the second dose.