CORONAVIRUS: THE LATEST

A pop-up clinic at Stebbins High School kicked off a series of events to bring vaccines to high schoolers in Montgomery County.

While many teens and parents want the vaccine, there can still be barriers between wanting and getting the shot, such as the time needed to go out to a pharmacy or other site. The clinics make vaccines convenient and let high schoolers go to an appointment with their peers.

Starting this week, Dayton Children’s Hospital began operating COVID-19 vaccine clinics and the first was held at Stebbins with the Mad River Local School District in Riverside.

Staff have already been offered vaccines earlier in the schedule and staff and families who still need vaccines also can get immunized at the clinics.

Local education leaders said the opportunity to get vaccines to those interested helps open more opportunities for the students, and helps with ongoing local efforts to get the school year and extracurriculars back to normal.

“We faced a whole year of limitations. This just gives us a little bit of opportunities to start removing those limits for the 21-22 school year,” said Shannon Cox, superintendent for the Montgomery County Educational Service Center, speaking at the Stebbins clinic.

“It’s really the opportunity to bring everyone back in person, five days a week, to whatever the norm looks like. The big thing is to have all of our students back,” said Chad Wyen, superintendent of Mad River Local Schools.

Any fully vaccinated Ohioan no longer has to quarantine if exposed to someone with COVID-19, which includes high school students.

The Dayton Daily News previously reported on the disruptions to the school year as many students and staff had to quarantine throughout the year.

“By changing our health order, students 16 and 17 years old who are vaccinated will be able to participate in sports and other activities, even when they have been exposed to someone with COVID,” Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday.

Students who wish to receive the vaccine will need to have a signed consent form from a parent or legal guardian.

The vaccine is not mandatory for students.

Cox said that if parents didn’t opt into the opportunity Wednesday, there will be other chances and Dayton Children’s is available to answer questions.

“This is still a very important decision to many families.

And there’s a lot of information floating out there.

Dayton Children’s has done a great job of providing very scientific, very medical-based information about when you’re making the decision to have your teenagers vaccinated,” Cox said.

Dayton Children’s COVID- 19 parent hotline can be reached at 1-888-746-KIDS (5437) from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“We are pleased to partner with Montgomery County Schools to provide the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to students 16 and older, to help put an end to the pandemic,” said Dr. Adam Mezoff, chief medical officer and vice president at Dayton Children’s.

Contact this writer at kaitlin.schroeder@coxinc.com.

HOW TO SIGN UP

To sign up for a clinic appointment, parents should visit childrensdayton.org/ school-covid-19-vaccines.

VACCINE CLINICS

Participating Montgomery County high schools include:

■ Dayton Public Schools (Belmont)

■ Dayton Public Schools (Thurgood Marshall)

■ Dayton Regional Stem School

■ DECA

■ GEM City Career Prep

■ Miami Valley School

■Northridge

■ Montgomery County ESC Learning Center North

■ Oakwood High School

■ Stebbins High School

■ Trotwood High School

■ Valley View High School

■ Wayne High School