Beaufort Co. schools, hospitals are planning student vaccine clinics. What we know
Beaufort County School District and Beaufort Memorial Hospital are beginning to plan vaccination events for students, officials from both organizations said Wednesday.
District Superintendent Frank Rodriguez said he began discussions with Beaufort Memorial on Monday about holding clinics for students 16 and older, and that the hospital “might be interested in combining” those events with clinics to give 12- to 15-year-olds Pifzer vaccines, which the Food and Drug Administration approved Tuesday.
“Bottom line, we’re looking at trying to schedule another couple vaccine clinics that will allow students to participate as long as parents are with them,” Rodriguez said. “Parents would have to be present. It’s their kids and it’s their choice.”
Rodriguez and hospital spokesperson Courtney McDermott said they had not set any dates or locations for the clinics.
The hospital and school district have held several successful vaccine clinics together in the past five months, including a mass vaccination drive-through event at the Beaufort High School stadium in January and pop-up clinics for teachers in March.
Rodriguez said that while the “logistics haven’t been sorted out” for student vaccination events, they would likely resemble the teacher vaccine events. He added that teachers and other employees would also have the option to be vaccinated at the student events.
About 400 district employees were vaccinated in a March clinic held at Battery Creek High School and staffed by Beaufort Memorial workers. Employees signed up for the clinic one day in advance, and came to the school’s gymnasium to receive their first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
“Those ran very efficiently, and we want to make sure this is efficient, that Beaufort Memorial has what they need to make it successful, that our staff has what they need to make it successful,” Rodriguez said.
The news of the clinics comes on the heels of a Tuesday executive order from S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster lifting mask requirements in public schools and municipalities.
Parents can now opt their children out of wearing masks at school by signing a form provided by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
In a Twitter thread containing a link to the form, the Department noted that its recommendations on wearing masks “had not changed” and that “all students, staff, and others in schools should continue to wear masks through the end of the current school year.”