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February 24, 2021
Dear School Leaders,
The state is continuing to vaccinate educators, school staff and child care staff through the COVID-19 Community Vaccination program. Below are updates for the week of February 22, 2021.
Important Note about Hy-Vee and Other Retail Pharmacy Locations: The retail pharmacy program is currently providing vaccination for people 65+ in Minnesota. That criteria was established when this program was rolled out by the federal government and all three providers in this program had that information they were preparing to start taking appointments.
We have learned that Hy-Vee was offering appointments to a broader population and hadn’t provided the limited eligibility criteria on their website. Hy-Vee has been informed that they need to follow guidelines and should only be vaccinating people 65 and older.
Currently, school and child care staff are not eligible for vaccines through the retail pharmacy program, unless they are over age 65.
This week, vaccines for school and child care staff will continue to be offered in the following ways:
State-run Sites
The state has established semi-permanent state-run community vaccination sites in Duluth, Rochester and Minneapolis. This week, another site has been added at the Mall of America in Bloomington. The Minneapolis and Bloomington sites serve education and child care workers who live in the 7-county metro.
Currently, the two Twin Cities sites are the only state-run sites making appointments for education and child care workers, but school and child care staff may be called for an appointment at any of the state-run sites if there is a need to fill last-minute appointments.
Schools in the metro area should work with your IT staff to continue to ensure that emails from @updates.vaulthealth.com and @primarybio.com are whitelisted and do not go to spam.
Local Public Health
Local public health agencies in Greater Minnesota have been allocated vaccines specifically for school and child care staff who live in their communities. Staff in education and child care settings will be contacted directly if selected to sign up for vaccine appointments at state or local public health agencies.
Local public health agencies in the Twin Cities metro and in Greater Minnesota may also partner directly with school and child care programs in their communities as additional vaccines become available (likely once they’ve completed vaccinating phase 1a). Appointments in any of the locations are not guaranteed.
Vaccine Connector
All Minnesotans who work in schools and child care settings should fill out the form to ensure they stay updated on vaccination opportunities in their area when they become available. Staff who have already completed the Minnesota COVID-19 Vaccine – Education and Child Care survey do not need to complete the Vaccine Connector form or re-submit their information.
How Are Staff Selected for an Appointment?
MDE has provided the state-run sites and local public health agencies with the waitlist generated in week two of the pilot program and contact information for those who completed the education and child care survey. Soon, we will also begin pulling names from the COVID-19 Vaccine Connector.
What do Staff Need to Know Once They’ve Scheduled an Appointment?
Staff will receive addresses for their specific vaccination location when they confirm their appointment. Contracted staff who may not have a staff ID badge or a pay stub to verify their employment or affiliation with your school district or charter school will be directed to contact school leaders for a signed letter to bring to their vaccine appointment that verifies their employment or affiliation with your school. The letter may be signed by a superintendent, charter school director or human resources director.
If you or your staff have general questions about the vaccine pilot program you can direct them to educatorvaccine@state.mn.us which is managed by Minnesota Department of Education staff. Please note that MDE is not able to confirm a staff member’s status on the waitlist generated in week two of the pilot program or whether a staff member has completed the vaccine survey form or not.
Please share this information with your staff. We have created a template letter to help communicate this week’s updates. You can also learn more in the COVID-19 vaccine questions and answers document.
Thank you for your continued partnership and leadership,
Heather Mueller, Ed.D.
Deputy Commissioner of Education
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