As the Phase 1B Tier 1 COVID-19 vaccinations begin in Iowa, several school districts are waiting for their opportunity to schedule their appointment to get the shot.

Greene County Public Health Director Becky Wolf says she is working with Greene County and Paton-Churdan schools to administer the vaccines. She notes that due to vaccine availability, they are starting Friday with a sub-priority group that includes all pre-kindergarten through fourth grade staff and those in the special education departments. 

Paton-Churdan Superintendent Kreg Lensch says they are ready to start allowing those who want to get the vaccine to get it.

“We have an opportunity to get on the list. They kind of have an idea of how many doses they’re going to get. We’ve pulled our people to see those that are interested in getting the vaccine (and) we aren’t requiring it. We have, I think, a very high percentage that are going to get it.”

Greene County Superintendent Tim Christensen says while staff begins to receive the vaccine, their positive cases have been low ever since the School Board froze their mask tier system at red since November, which requires everyone to wear a mask with the exception of teachers being alone in their classroom with the door shut.

“It’s been going very well and I think it’s helped reduce the number of cases in Greene County. That’s also been in conjunction with Greene County Board of Supervisors put mask mandate in as well. I think the coordinated effort of all of that (and) public health has been doing an outstanding job. I think everybody is really focusing on it and I think you see the results in Greene County.”

Wolf adds that she hopes to vaccinate the rest of the school staff at both districts within one week. According to Greene County Public Health as of Thursday, the county’s 14-day positivity rate was 4.5-percent, which was tied for the third lowest rate in Iowa.