CPS reports strong initial response to child vaccinations

Interim School Superintendent Derek Folan was pleased to share encouraging COVID vaccination trends among Canton’s younger students dating to early November, when the vaccine first became available in the United States for kids ages 5-11.

Reporting on the latest vaccination data at last Thursday’s School Committee meeting, Folan said that 16 percent of children ages 5-11 had been fully vaccinated, which places Canton among the top 10 communities in the state for child vaccination distribution.

District wide, Folan said 1,300 CPS students were fully vaccinated as of December 2 while another 625 had received the first of two doses, according to data retrieved from the Mass. Immunization Information System.

At CHS, grade 12 students had the highest rate of fully vaccinated students (74 percent), followed by grade 11 at 70 percent, grade 10 at 69 percent, and grade 9 at 66 percent.

At the Galvin Middle School, 68 percent of seventh graders and 67 percent of eighth graders had been fully vaccinated as of December 2, while the percentage of fully vaccinated sixth graders nearly doubled from November 18 to December 2, climbing from 12 to 23 percent.

At the elementary level, 238 students had been fully vaccinated as of last week, including 85 students at Luce, 84 students at JFK, and 69 students at Hansen. Meanwhile, a total of 464 Canton elementary students had received at least one dose of the vaccine, including 182 at Hansen, 153 at JFK, and 129 at Luce.

In the Rodman PreK program, as of December 2, one student had been fully vaccinated and two students had received one dose.

Folan credited the cooperation among members of the Board of Health, CPS nursing team, and Canton Fire Department in delivering the initial vaccinations through public clinics. The BOH had a Moderna booster clinic scheduled for December 9 (today) from 9 a.m. to noon at the Canton Housing Authority and will host a Pfizer first dose clinic for kids ages 5-11 on Tuesday, December 14, from 5-7 p.m. at CHS.

In other COVID-related news, the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education plans to review its indoor mask policy on January 15 while Canton school officials will revisit theirs on January 20. Folan also announced that …

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Posted by Mike Berger on Dec 10 2021. Filed under News, Schools. Both comments and pings are currently closed.