FYI - Texas Schools Vaccine Campaign Next Steps

Superintendents,

We will be sending an email shortly announcing our Texas Schools Vaccine Campaign, which is launching today. The email will go to individuals listed as points of contact in the previous vaccine survey sent a couple of weeks ago – some of whom are district staff and not superintendents. We wanted to make sure you were aware of the communication and have included the full text of the email below.

Please email disasterinfo@tea.texas.gov or call the Superintendent Hotline with any questions.

 

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Texas Schools Vaccine Campaign Points of Contact:

Two weeks ago, the federal Department of Health and Human Services announced that school personnel were now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. As a follow-up to that announcement, we asked all school systems – ISDs, public charters, and private schools – to complete a survey to provide us information related to the status of vaccine distribution in your local communities. Based on the results, we recognized that while some school systems had completed their vaccination efforts, there is still much work to be done to ensure all school staff that want a vaccine have access to a vaccine.

In close collaboration with the Texas Department of State Health Services, we have used this data to launch a campaign today that seeks accomplish the following:

1. Track statewide progress towards access to vaccine for school staff
2. Identify and provide targeted support to school systems
3. Help prioritize access to vaccines for school system providers or the partner(s) they are working with.

We have attached a PDF that provides an overview of the effort.

To support this campaign, we have created a weekly process in which school systems that have not yet completed their vaccination efforts will submit the Texas School System Vaccination Progress Tracking Survey. The information provided in this brief survey – estimated at 10 minutes to complete – will be used in service of the campaign goals outlined above. Once school systems can report that all their staff have had access to vaccine, survey links will no longer be sent to their points of contact and, for purposes of our statewide goal, the school system will be considered as complete.

We encourage you to preview the survey prior to submitting it.  You can find the survey instructions here.

The Texas School System Vaccination Progress Tracking Survey is due by Monday, March 22 at 5:00pm – and subsequently on Mondays at 5:00pm – until the vaccine campaign is completed.

Link to survey: https://tea.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bxxeBLId04zIcx8

We recognize that you might have additional questions or concerns, and we encourage you to reach out to your local Education Service Center (ESC) as they have been integral partners in the planning of this campaign. You can also email disasterinfo@tea.texas.gov, call the Superintendent Hotline for urgent questions, or review all of the vaccine-related resources on our tea.texas.gov/coronavirus website.

Thank you for your partnership, and we look forward to supporting the opportunity for all school staff to be vaccinated as quickly as possible. 

Commissioner Mike Morath