Massachusetts Schools Step Up Efforts To Vaccinate Students

Virus Outbreak Massachusetts — Varsity football players wear face masks during the first day of practice at Woburn High School, Monday, Feb. 22, 2021, in Woburn, Mass. The high school football season, postponed due to COVID-19, has finally started in Massachusetts on Feb. 22, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association announced. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

By Associated Press

May 19, 2021

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts school districts are stepping up their efforts to vaccinate eligible students before the end of the school year.

Nearly 300 students signed up for Worcester's first at-school COVID-19 vaccine clinic Tuesday at Worcester Technical High School, The Telegram & Gazette reported.

Clinics are scheduled for Wednesday at North High School and South High Community School, and later this week at Doherty Memorial High, Claremont Academy and University Park Campus School, and Burncoat High.

Students who receive a vaccine this month will be able to get their second dose at another round of school clinics next month.

Some students said they got a shot to protect more vulnerable family members.

Brayden Auger, a freshman at Worcester Tech, said he wanted to protect his infant cousins. Sophomore Francisco Alvarado said his mother is immunocompromised and he decided to get a shot to protect her.

Deirdre Arvidson, a Barnstable County Public Health nurse, told the Cape Cod Times the county hopes to administer up to 1,200 first doses in area schools by early June, starting Thursday with a clinic at Monomoy Regional High School in Harwich.

Clinics are also scheduled this week for the Nauset Regional School District and Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School.