First teachers, now a school district plans to start vaccinating students

MARIETTA, Ga - First, it was teachers and staff, now one Georgia school district plans to start vaccinating students.

It's the next phase of Marietta City Schools' plan to help those in the community get the vaccine if they want it.

"We believe we have a role to support families, to support staff and children who want to get vaccinated," said Marietta Schools Superintendent Grant Rivera.

Marietta Schools has teamed up with Poole's Pharmacy to administer the vaccine.\

Earlier this month, close to a thousand of the 1,400 teachers and staff at Marietta City Schools gathered in the high school parking lot and rolled up their sleeves.  

This past weekend, the school district offered the vaccine to family members of the school staff.

This time, due to bad weather, the vaccination site was moved indoors.

Orange cones lined the hallway.

Individual bays were set up in the gym.

"We brought families into the high school we got them into these bays and we were vaccinating 200 people an hour," said Rivera.

Students who are 16 and older and their parents will be able to get a dose of Pfizer on April 16.

"We know we can vaccinate up to 1,000 people at Marietta High School as we extend it to our eligible high school students and up to two members of their family," said Rivera.

For high school athletes, that could mean more sports in their future.

Under CDC guidelines, those who have been vaccinated no longer have to quarantine if they come into contact with another student who has COVID-19.

"Where we may have lost the entire basketball team or the flag football team, those students who have been vaccinated are not going to be out of school and athletics for two weeks," said Rivera.

After this group is vaccinated Rivera says plans are already in the works for the next phase which would be parents and guardians of any student, no matter what grade the child is in. Rivera says the goal is to offer the shot to as many students and family members, who are eligible and who want the vaccine, as possible.

"We can't sit back and wait for someone to do it for us, we want to take an active part in making our community safer," said Rivera.

WATCH: FOX 5 Atlanta live news coverage

_____

Sign up for FOX 5 email alerts

Download the FOX 5 Atlanta app for breaking news and weather alerts.