ATLANTA — It's the first week teachers across the state are able to get vaccinated, and for many who decide to get it through their school district, that could mean waiting even longer for the COVID-19 shot.
Here are county-by-county timelines for some school districts in Georgia.
The district started to vaccinate Monday, March 8 - the first day teachers became eligible in the state. Vaccinations will continue over the next few weeks at the mass vaccination sites located in the Gwinnett Place Mall from 9 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., with some having appointments during the week, others on Saturdays.
Fifty-two percent of the 25,000 GCPS staff members (13,096 staff) said they want to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
GCPS partnered with the Gwinnett Newton Rockdale Health Department for most staff vaccinations.
The Health Department is dedicating 600 doses a day for at least the first two weeks to GCPS employees. These weeks will prioritize teachers, parapros, bus drivers and school nutrition staff.
GCPS also partnered with Northside Hospital Gwinnett who is providing 1,000 vaccinations Friday, March 12. Those doses will go to the remaining special education teachers interested in receiving the shot.
Vaccinations in the district will begin Wednesday, March 10 and run through Tuesday, March 16.
They will be administering up to 600 Johnson & Johnson vaccines a day, with 10 vaccines administered in 15-minute increments.
The district adds that they have enough doses to cover those who indicated in their first survey that they want to receive the vaccine.
The district says it is vaccinating 700 staff members this Friday, March 12 and another 700 the following Friday, March 19 at the Coweta County Fairgrounds.
They are also moving to virtual learning March 12 in case of any side effects staff may experience.
CCSS says it received 1,400 vaccine doses in this allotment. In a survey, 1,379 employees said they were interested in vaccinations.
"Interest has grown so we anticipate all 1,400 will be delivered during those pods," wrote a spokesperson with the district.
The district will be vaccinating interested employees Friday, March 19, Saturday, March 20, Friday, March 26 and Saturday, March 27 at Jim R. Miller Park from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
For staff to be able to get vaccinated, they will be moving to remote learning March 19 and March 26 for the first dose and April 16 and April 23 for the second dose.
The district will be vaccinating 800 staff members starting Thursday, March 11.
First doses will be administered Thursday, March 11 and Friday, March 12 while second doses are scheduled right now for April 9 and April 16.
While the district says it trained all nurses to vaccinate staff, Poole's Pharmacy staff will be administering the vaccines.
The district will be vaccinating staff March 24, 26 and 27 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
It says it is expected to receive 8,000 vaccine allotments March 22.
Seventy percent of staff in the district is interested in receiving vaccine. That's more than 7,000 staff out of its 10,000.
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11Alive also reached out to the DeKalb County School District at least three times asking what its plan is to vaccinate teachers and has not heard back.
Neither has special education 6th grade teacher at Columbia Middle School, Sonya Alicock.
"They haven't given us any information," she said.
Alicock has asthma, high blood pressure and is pre-diabetic. She told 11Alive she has not received any information about vaccinations for staff in her district.
"With this whole COVID vaccine thing, I was totally against it," she added.
While she was initially opposed to getting the vaccine and going back to in-person learning, she said she realized the shot was the only option she had to stay employed and try and stay healthy.
"You feel like your back is against the wall and there's nothing else you can do so you pray and hope nothing happens to you," she said.
Alicock adds that everyone should have an option during the pandemic instead of having to choose between health or a paycheck.
"If we're giving parents a choice, they're stakeholders, we're stakeholders," she said. "Give us a choice as well."
She worked virtually and returned to the classroom last week.
"They bring us back to teach, and I'm telling you I only had two kids in my class today. I stayed out for as long as I could but at the end of the day if it's not all of us in this together, there's no way [the superintendent] is going to listen to us," she said. "So it was like fighting a losing battle, and the only one getting hurt in this situation was me and my family."
We will keep you updated as soon as the DeKalb County School District returns our request for information.