LYNN — The Lynn Public Health Department is offering four days of vaccination clinics for educators in the Breed Middle School gym at 90 O’Callaghan Way, which kicked off with the first session Friday evening.
Educators working in grades kindergarten through high school, childcare workers and staff who live or work in Lynn are eligible to sign up for the clinics, which will operate from 3 to 7:30 p.m. on four consecutive Fridays.
The city is offering these clinics to align with the state’s recommendation advising local vaccine providers to designate alternative vaccine clinics specifically for educators, as many communities across the Commonwealth prepare for the return to in-person learning.
Mayor Thomas M. McGee said that it is important for educators to know that the clinics have available appointments.
“As our plan continues to return to in-person learning, we continue to want to do it safely and in the right way,” he said. “A really important piece to this is that now educators have access to getting their vaccinations.”
Pre-registration for the educator clinics is required and appointments are on a first come, first served basis. Lack of a driver’s license, Social Security number, or insurance is not a barrier to receiving the vaccine. Eligible educators can register for the clinics at https://registrations.maimmunizations.org/reg/0012776569.
Lynn Public Health Director Michele Desmarais said that she opened 800 appointments for the first day of the clinic, but only about half were filled.
“We encourage everyone who is eligible to please get a vaccine,” she said.
Desmarais and McGee said that it is important that information explaining the clinics are strictly for educators be distributed, especially since the Lynn Tech Field House vaccination site has been filling up on most days.
McGee said that since more phases have been rolling out, other vaccination sites include eligibility for many other groups, which limits the number of appointments available for educators.
“We felt by creating this clinic specifically for educators, it helps us move in a more expedited way towards getting the educators vaccinated,” he said.
Since educators will be returning to working with children soon, McGee said that the vaccinations will give more options to teachers and help make the return safer.
“The ultimate goal is to get everyone vaccinated, but these are the kinds of decisions that are important to address, especially when trying to get kids back into school safely,” he said.
The Lynn Health Department will release the pre-registration link for the remaining three educator clinics the week of that respective clinic on the city’s COVID-19 Vaccine Page. Those clinics will take place on the evenings of March 26, April 2, and April 9, pending confirmation of vaccine supply.
Educators are still able to register for appointments through the federal retail pharmacy program’s CVS website, and at the Lynn Tech vaccination site.
The state has also designated specific clinics at their seven mass vaccination sites across the state on March 27, April 3, April 10 and April 11. The mass vaccination site closest to the North Shore is the Danvers Doubletree Hotel, which can be found on the state’s website.
Allysha Dunnigan can be reached at [email protected].
