North Hollywood Teachers Vaccinated Before Eligible

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA — North Hollywood's Wesley School is under fire for accepting vaccinations from Northridge Hospital for its teachers, even though educators and childcare workers in L.A. County are not eligible for vaccinations until March.

Northridge Hospital reached out to a number of schools and daycares in the Valley to let them know that there were additional vaccine supplies available, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

The Wesley School took them up on the offer. The school confirmed that the hospital notified them that the vaccine was available, and some teachers received shots. The school released a statement saying that it asked for the vaccinations in order to bring students back on campus.

"We firmly believe that vaccinating educators is critical to returning students to in-person learning. We were therefore grateful to be contracted by a local hospital in January indicating that it was creating a list of teachers and other essential workers who wished to be vaccinated when the vaccine became available. When the hospital notified us that vaccine was available, some of our teachers scheduled appointments and received the first dose of the vaccine. We strongly urge public health officials to prioritize vaccination for all educators."

Northridge Hospital also released a statement explaining its actions, saying that it wanted to offer available vaccinations to workers at nearby schools.

"Recently, we had vaccines available and reached out to schools and daycare centers in the Valley to offer vaccinations to educators, targeting those 65 and older. This was a good faith effort to direct all of our available doses to essential workers and the elderly in our community as quickly as possible, and we are working closely with the county to ensure vaccines are distributed according to the county's prioritization guidelines. We will continue to work with our state and county health officials to accelerate vaccine distribution through community events and our health care clinics."

Los Angeles Unified School District, meanwhile, which has said that it does not want to return to in-person learning until its teachers are vaccinated, said in a statement that it checked with Public Health before declining the offer.

"We sought clarification from the Los Angeles County Health Department as to whether vaccine doses are only available to teachers over the age of 65, consistent with current guidelines, or if Northridge Hospital was operating under a different set of rules that would allow any teacher to be vaccinated regardless of age," it said. "The County confirmed that currently vaccines are only available for healthcare workers and those over 65 and thanked us for following proper procedures. The County is looking into the issue."