On January 22, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and CDPH announced details of the plan to vaccinate thousands of eligible staff and educators under phase 1b of the city’s vaccination plan. Approximately 1,500 CPS healthcare workers are eligible already as part of phase 1a, and, beginning January 25, additional school-based staff will also be eligible to receive the vaccine as it becomes available.
As part of the vaccination plan, CDPH will distribute vaccine to CPS beginning mid-February, with the amount contingent upon federal vaccine allocations. In order to ensure equity of access, the district will be setting up multiple vaccination sites across the city that will be open only to CPS employees, with hours of operation that are accommodating to the work schedules of employees to minimize learning and work disruptions. CPS will also actively coordinate and communicate vaccine availability to CPS employees through other partner organizations serving broader groups of Phase 1B-eligible Chicagoans. Employees can also independently seek vaccination from their healthcare provider.
CPS has developed a prioritization system based on the level of exposure to others and ability to reliably maintain mitigation measures, as well as the amount of time the specific role has been serving in-person during the closure. Within individual categories, employees who fall into the following groups may be further prioritized if they are age 65 or over, or have a high risk medical condition per CDC. Having an ADA or caretaker accommodation to work from home will not impact prioritization status for employees.
Learn more about CPS’ vaccination strategy at bit.ly/cpsVaccinationStrategy.
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