Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot kicked off “Vaccination Awareness Day” Friday by getting her COVID-19 booster shot in front of cameras at a vaccine clinic at Michele Clark Magnet High School.
She also took a shot — at the Chicago Teachers Union, for its claims the city’s not doing enough to provide vaccines to Black children and families on the South Side.
“The notion that somehow we are ignoring the South Side of Chicago, that there isn’t sufficient vaccine availability, is a complete misnomer — and frankly I feel more strongly than that,” Lightfoot said during a news conference.
Shortly after the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine received federal emergency use authorization Oct. 26, Chicago Public Schools announced it would cancel school on Nov. 12, for what officials dubbed “Vaccination Awareness Day.” They touted it as a way to get parents thinking about the issue and, more practically, to give them time to get shots for themselves and their children.
At Clark High Friday, children who’d just received their shots were greeted by a smiling worker checking that they had their vaccine cards and directing them to grab a cupcake on their way out. Some stopped to take photos with Principal Charles Anderson, who mingled with parents and children.
Anderson said he wanted Clark “to be a place where whenever someone in my community decided that they needed to get vaccinated … they could just come right here in the community.”
But local officials have faced criticism for not offering more in-school vaccine options compared with some other big cities that have hundreds of sites to receive shots. Some parents have also said it wasn’t helpful to have a sudden no-school day following Thursday’s day off for Veterans Day.
CPS has expanded the availability of vaccines in schools and is operating clinics in 14 buildings. Dr. Allison Arwady said there are more than 200 vaccination sites scattered across the city.
Arwady emphasized that their goal was never to expand vaccination access to every school.
“Our approach all along has been first to encourage people to get vaccinated at their own pediatricians or their own family clinic. Because when they do that, that allows us to make sure they’re connected to care in an ongoing way,” Arwady said.
Officials also noted the district agreed to pay 1,100 substitute teachers who had signed up to work Friday before it was announced as a no-school day.
With city and state COVID-19 case numbers again on the rise, Arwady said Friday another spike around the holidays was possible. But while children who receive the first dose of two-shot vaccines Friday won’t be fully vaccinated by Thanksgiving, Arwady said that children being partially vaccinated by then provides at least some additional protection.
Many organizations applauded the decision to close schools Friday, including CTU.
But CTU — which ran its own vaccine clinic Friday at its headquarters — cited several South Side ZIP codes “without easy access” to vaccines and questioned why the city wasn’t doing more there to provide access and transportation to clinics and education on the importance of vaccines.
“Instead, Black CPS families with the greatest barriers to vaccine access and medical care are left to fend for themselves in setting up appointments, which only highlights existing inequities between Chicago’s communities,” the union said.
Melvy Lima, said she struggled to find a vaccination appointment for her 5-year-old daughter Phoenix, who attends Ravenswood Elementary School. Lima said she tried her family pediatrician but was told no appointments were available. She was advised to call another location downtown, but Lima said that simply would not work for her.
She was finally able to find a conveniently located appointment at the CTU clinic.
Now that her daughter is on her way to being fully vaccinated, Lima said she feels comfortable booking different holiday activities, such as tickets to “The Nutcracker” at the Joffrey Ballet.
Her daughter’s school has been excellent in communicating about COVID-19, Lima said. It’s just a block from their home, and she would have taken her daughter there for her shot if that had been an option.