Vaccine Clinic for Dare County Schools Personnel to be Held on Jan. 23

Per a recent announcement from Dare County Schools, a vaccine clinic will be held for Dare County Schools (DCS) personnel on Saturday, January 23, at the First Flight High School, with a second clinic to follow on February 13.

Dare County Schools Superintendent Dr. John Farrlley shared the announcement with DCS parents, and provided the following details for the upcoming clinics:

Good afternoon DCS families,

I have just announced the following to DCS staff and wanted to share a summary with parents:

Due to the incredible advocacy and work of Dr. Sheila Davies and the Dare County Health and Human Services Department, I am very pleased to announce that Dare County Schools staff will have the opportunity to get the first of two (2) COVID-19 vaccine shots on Saturday, January 23 at a clinic at First Flight High School. A summary of the details is as follows:

1. Vidant Hospital in Greenville is providing Dare County with 1,100 shots of the Pfizer vaccine.

2. The clinic on January 23 is for all DCS staff (who want the shot); COA personnel and Dare County Law Enforcement officials. FFHS is the sole site for this clinic. The clinic will be held in the school gymnasium, rotunda, and cafeteria areas.

3. The second shot clinic will take place on Saturday, February 13 at FFHS (also from 9:00 – 5:00).

4. There are currently no other clinic dates available. There is a vaccine priority process change being announced within the next 24 hours whereby adults who are 65 and older get moved up the priority list for vaccine availability. This will likely result in pushing out vaccine availability to educators later into the spring (this is fluid). Since Dr. Davies received clinic approval from the state prior to the new priority protocols being established, she can hold the January 23 and February 13 clinics.

5. The Pfizer shot requires a second shot on day 21 as opposed to the Moderna shot 28 days later.

6. Following the second shot, everyone has 2 additional weeks (according to the science) before they are considered to be in the 95% immunity category. So, when you take a look at your calendar that brings us to February 27.

7. Anyone who is in quarantine or has been a laboratory-confirmed positive 14 days prior to EITHER shot is not eligible to take the shot. So, please be as vigilant as ever and follow the 3 W’s!!

8. FFHS will be closed on the following dates (Except child nutrition staff running the feeding program) in order to set up and run the clinics: January 22, January 23, February 12, and February 13.

I know that the next question in the community will focus on how this impacts the remote learning decision and the current March 18 timeline. I will confer with our leadership team and the Board of Education to discuss potential next steps. The Board will discuss this at their next scheduled meeting (February 9) or they could opt to call another special called meeting.

In closing, I want to thank Dr. Davies, County Manager Bobby Outten, Dare County Emergency Management Director Drew Pearson, members of the Dare County Department of Health and Humans Services, and Vidant Hospitals (in Dare and Pitt Counties) for their leadership and support of DCS.