'Like I'd won the lottery': Ames school district staff begins receiving COVID-19 vaccine

Ames school district staff members who received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Friday afternoon described a sense of peace of mind that the shot provided.

Melissa Carlson, an Ames High School learning lead, was the first person in line at the district's first vaccination clinic.

Carlson is also 31 weeks pregnant — she's having a boy — and said her sense of relief at getting a vaccine is a matter of timing to protect her and her yet to be born baby.

John Crall, a high school special education teacher, said getting his shot Friday was the best feeling he's had in a year. When he found out earlier in the week that he was going be able to be vaccinated Friday, "it was like I'd won the lottery."

Cappie Dobyns, an Ames Middle School Extended Learning Program art teacher, said she felt "blessed and guilty" to be among the first staff in the district to be vaccinated. 

It's a potentially life-saving opportunity, but Dobyns also wished all her colleagues could have been vaccinated as well, especially before the switch earlier in the week back to 100% in-person learning for the middle and high schools. 

"I kind of skipped a beat right at first," she said of the moment she knew she could be vaccinated Friday. She asked herself, "Did we really make it?"

The school district's first vaccine clinic Friday was also the first of its kind in Story County for school staffs, Story County Public Health Director Les White said. Story County Public Health workers administered the shots.

The district expected earlier in the week that it would be getting approximately 50 doses for Friday's clinic, but White said Friday that number ultimately was 100 doses.

That still leaves a long way to go before all 675 people who had signed up as of Friday to get vaccinations through the school district get their shots, but White said that the goal is to administer at least 100 doses every Friday for the district.

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As the vaccinations of staff of other school districts in the county are completed, she said the county would try to then offer at least two clinics a week for the Ames district. 

The Collins-Maxwell Community School District could have been first in the county to have its staff vaccinated, were it not for Thursday's blizzard and accompanying cancellation, but White said that district will get 60 doses to have all interested staff there be vaccinated on Tuesday. 

The Roland-Story Community School District will receive 111 doses on Wednesday, followed the next day by 70 doses for the staff of the Colo-NESCO Community School District, White said.

White said Ames will have another clinic on Feb. 12, and then the Ballard Community School District on Feb. 17. Ballard is set to get 240 doses, but that may need to be split up into two clinics, she said.

She said Friday nothing was yet scheduled for the Gilbert and Nevada districts, and those districts may also require more than one clinic.

White said she expects to receive 1,075 doses every week this month — a level of certainty the county did not have before. Having that knowledge allows for a more routine clinic schedule, she said, and allowed for Ames CSD to get double the doses it originally expected for Friday.

More: 'Just keep fighting': How COVID-19 tore through one Iowa family

Eligibility for teachers and other school staff to be vaccinated opened Feb. 1 with the start of Phase 1B in the state's vaccination plan.

The phase includes people over the age of 65, and in addition to Pre-K-12 teachers and school staff, the first tier of five for groups of people prioritized alongside the elderly includes child care workers and first responders. 

Given limited supplies of vaccine, districts have said they are or have at least thought about prioritizing which members of their staff have a chance to be vaccinated first — whether that means starting with teachers, or those with underlying health conditions, or based on age, older first.

Ames' district has prioritized staff into five groups, beginning with teachers with health conditions, and ending with substitute teachers, coaches and district office staff.

Kathi Arnold, the district's emergency management coordinator, said Friday's clinic would get the district part of the way through the second group — special education teachers and other staff who work with students who cannot easily and consistently wear masks correctly.

Arnold said the next clinic would cover the remainder of the second and third group — the third group being teachers, counselors, family advocates, principals and some school office staff who interact with students.

Everyone vaccinated Friday with Pfizer's vaccine will also still need a second dose.

Carlson said she will still need to take precautions, but getting her first shot reduces her anxiety and stress. 

White has previously said even people who get vaccinated need to continue to take precautions. "We're not at the point where we can loosen any of those public health mitigation guidelines. It's still important to wear masks social distance wash your hands stay home if you're sick."