Hinsdale Central students age 16 and older interested in receiving a COVID-19 vaccination will be able to get one at school next month.
Superintendent Tammy Prentiss announced last week that she had arranged for the district to receive 6,000 Pfizer vaccinations through its partnership with Jewel Osco for students in Hinsdale High School District 86 and Downers Grove High School District 99.
Clinics will be held May 20 at Hinsdale Central and May 26 at Downers North, with the second shots administered three weeks later, she said at the April 22 board meeting.
A handful of parents who submitted comments electronically complained about the number of students in quarantine. As of April 16, the district had 18 positive cases and 155 people in quarantine, compared to eight positive cases and 32 in quarantine two weeks earlier. The number in quarantine climbed to 203 on April 23, with one additional positive case.
Prentiss said the definition of close contact has remained at six feet even though students now are allowed to sit three to six feet from each other. She emphasized that two weeks after receiving a second shot (or the single Johnson and Johnson vaccine), students no longer need to be quarantined.
“Just a reminder, fully vaccinated students are not close contact, so there is value in becoming vaccinated if you are age-eligible,” she said.
Unvaccinated students are not mandated to participate in the clinics, Prentiss wrote in a Friday email to district families.
“Please know that while we strongly encourage our students to get vaccinated, we are not requiring it,” she said.
