CHARLESTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Gov. Justice announced that, with the U.S. FDA and CDC expected to authorize use of the COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 12-15 within the next week, officials in charge of West Virginia’s vaccine distribution efforts are ready to hold vaccination clinics at schools in all 55 counties across the state as soon as this approval takes place.
“They’ll have to have the permission of their guardians,” Gov. Justice said. “At these clinics, we will also offer vaccines to all eligible West Virginians, including any other students, parents, and educators.”
The West Virginia Department of Education estimates that there are 78,000 students ages 12-15 who are eligible for the vaccine in the state’s K-12 schools.
“In the last month, we’ve held focus groups with teachers, parents, and students,” West Virginia State Superintendent of Schools Clayton Burch said. “The interesting thing we’ve been able to talk about in these student roundtables is: ‘What does the future look like?’ And it all came back to vaccinations. Each one of the students talked about the role that vaccinations will play in the future of school.
“There’s one young man out there that I think had one of the best taglines for all of his underclassmen friends,” Superintendent Burch continued. “This young man was a senior this year and he said, ‘Listen, Superintendent Burch, I’ll make it very, very simple. I would tell all of my friends and peers in high school, if you don’t want your senior year next year to suck, get a vaccination. Just do it.’ He sent a very poignant message that even our young people are talking about the power of what these vaccinations can do for them. It didn’t matter whether they were AP students, career technical education students, or students that might be in the JROTC; they all have the same message. The vaccines are the only way they see forward to get back to some normalcy and to protect themselves and their families”