Beaufort Co. schools announce 2 pop-up vaccine clinics for teachers, staff Thursday

Update: This story has been updated to include information for bus drivers and other contract employees.

Beaufort County School District announced opportunities for its nearly 3,000 staff members to get vaccinated Thursday, but within hours of the news, the appointments had been filled. The district set up pop-up clinics for Thursday afternoon in Burton and on Hilton Head Island.

School staffs were notified about the clinics, which were organized with Beaufort Memorial Hospital and Hilton Head Hospital “based on their current supply of vaccines,” according to a Wednesday morning email.

One clinic will be at Battery Creek High School; the other will happen at Hilton Head Hospital. Both will last from 4 to 7 p.m., district spokesperson Candace Bruder said.

Bruder added that the district is “coordinating appointments earlier in the day for bus drivers, custodial, food service, and maintenance employees who also desire the vaccine,” which will also happen Thursday around a “1 to 3 p.m. timeline.”

Vaccinations will be free, and are available only to district employees. Family and friends can’t get vaccinated at these sites. The vaccine is not mandatory for district employees.

Bruder said that all of the slots for the pop-up clinics were filled by noon Wednesday, about four hours after the announcement went out to staff.

However, district employees still have access to reserved vaccination timeslots in Port Royal and Okatie, which were announced Sunday.

The reserved timeslots are being run by Beaufort Memorial Hospital. Staff have access to two locations, which will begin appointments March 15:

• In Okatie (122 Okatie Center Boulevard North) between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday
• In Port Royal (1680 Ribaut Road) between 3:30 and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday

District staff can begin making appointments for the Port Royal location at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to an email sent by the hospital Wednesday afternoon.

“If you are unable to find an appointment when you first visit the above webpages, please return as more spots will open each day,” the email reads.

“If additional vaccination events are scheduled at school sites for BCSD employees, the BCSD will coordinate sign-ups for these specific events.”

Staff are being asked to bring their school ID or other proof of employment to the appointments, along with photocopies of their insurance cards and photo IDs, a face mask and a completed consent form and questionnaire.

Staff will receive the two-step Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and the hospital will schedule them to receive their second dose three weeks after the first dose.

Beaufort Memorial spokesperson Courtney McDermott previously told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette that it could take four to six weeks to vaccinate district staff, depending on the doses available and the number of employees who want to use this program.

Of BCSD’s nearly 3,000 employees, 1,700 in a recent survey said they wanted to get vaccinated once they were eligible. About 77% of the district’s staff responded to the survey.

This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 12:37 PM.