Eagle Pass ISD Teachers and Staff Now Eligible for COVID-19 Vaccine after President Biden Recommendation
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2021
Eagle Pass Independent School District (EPISD) teachers and staff are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine after President Joe Biden and his administration recommended on Tuesday, March 2, 2021, that all states prioritize vaccinating teachers and school staff.
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) immediately expanded its list of eligible categories to include teachers and school staff after receiving a letter from the Biden Administration’s U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Tuesday, March 2, directing it to expand eligibility categories.
According to the U.S. HHS, those eligible include “those who work in pre-primary, primary, and secondary schools, as well as Head Start and Early Head Start programs (including teachers, staff, and bus drivers) and those who work as for licensed child care providers, including center-based and family care providers.”
The new Biden Administration directive allows all teachers, staff, and bus drivers in public, private, and licensed child care providers to become eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.
EPISD Superintendent Samuel Mijares in an interview with the Eagle Pass Business Journal on March 4 stated that approximately 600 teachers and staff members had already participated in obtaining their COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with the Maverick County Emergency Center and United Medical Centers. EPISD has over 2,000 teachers, staff members, and bus drivers eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Mijares noted that EPISD is working with local health providers in administering the COVID-19 vaccine to its employees on a campus basis until all campuses have had their employees inoculated.
Mijares added that the EPISD School Board will be meeting to determine the district’s policy concerning face masks after Governor Greg Abbott announced that starting March 10, 2021 Texas would no longer require face masks and be open 100 percent. A press conference for Monday, March 8, has been scheduled to announce the EPISD School Board’s policy towards face masks in district facilities and instruction.
President Biden has prioritized the vaccination of 100 million Americans and reopening schools within the first 100 days of his administration. “What a difference makes having a President who genuinely cares about protecting all Americans and having a national strategic plan on how to handle the coronavirus pandemic and reopening the nation’s schools and economy,” said a Maverick County citizen.
