BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The city of Boston is taking a big step towards school safety during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Officials have set up a vaccine distribution site at the Gallivan Community Center in Mattapan that is exclusively for Boston Public Schools employees.
BPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius spoke at the grand opening of the site on Saturday -- describing the clinic as a "mitigation step [the district] is taking to protect [it's] staff."
Boston's Chief of Health & Human Services Marty Martinez added that the site has been "in the planning for quite some time" -- even before K through 12 workers became eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine this past week.
Erica Pastor, a BPS teacher, was relieved to receive her first dose of the vaccine at the clinic.
“I guess I’ve just been in the back of my mind keeping my fingers crossed that I won’t be exposed to anything,” she said.
She added that despite the resource, she and her co-workers would have preferred to have been made eligible for the vaccine sooner.
“I think it would have saved a lot of heartache if teachers had been vaccinated before we were asked to come back in the buildings," she said. "But here we are now, and so we’re just trying to do the best that we can."
The site plans to vaccinate 2,000 Boston Public Schools employees over the next two weeks.
Sohanny Ozuna-Perez, who also received her shot at the site, said she is feeling happiness and joy after getting the shot. She is hoping that the ramp up in vaccinations among BPS staff sends a message to the city's residents.
“We really want to be in the classroom with the kids and we really want to help them out," she said. "It feels like some parents are saying that we don’t want to be with our kids – and that’s not the case.”
WBZ’s Matt Shearer (@MattWBZ) reports.
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Written by Rachel Armany
(Photo: Getty Images)