600 Toms River Schools Staff To Get COVID-19 Vaccinations

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Staff members in the Toms River Regional School District are set to begin receiving COVID-19 vaccinations on Monday, under the district's partnership with RWJ Barnabas Health.

Staff members were notified of the upcoming opportunity to get vaccinated in a March 5 message from Interim Superintendent Thomas Gialanella, and nearly 600 have signed up to receive their first doses of the vaccine.

The staff vaccinations are being phased in, with priority is being given to those 55 or older, and staff members who have pre-existing medical conditions.

The district said it's expected that all staff members who signed up will be able to receive their first doses next week.

The inoculations are being administered at Community Medical Center, and are seen as an "extremely important giant step forward" as the district returns to in-person learning. Students throughout the district are attending in-person classes four half-days a week. Elementary students moved to the four half-days on March 1, and the intermediate and high schools moved to four half-days on March 15.

The effort to vaccinate the Toms River Schools' staff comes amid a push from President Joe Biden to get teachers vaccinated across the nation, so students and staff can return to the classroom full-time.

Initially, Gov. Phil Murphy said teachers would be eligible beginning March 15, but moved up that timeline in response to urgings from Biden.

"Let's treat in-person learning like an essential service that it is," Biden said March 2. "And that means getting essential workers who provide that service, educators, school staff, child care workers, get them vaccinated immediately. They're essential workers." Read more: 'Back To The Classroom': NJ Teachers Now Getting COVID Vaccines

“This national push to have teachers vaccinated certainly helps our efforts, and it’s times like this when having a strong community partner like Community Medical Center makes all the difference,” Gialanella said. “To be able to offer our dedicated staff members — who’ve gone above and beyond this past year to continue educating our students under such challenging circumstances — a streamlined way to receive vaccinations makes us extremely proud, happy, and grateful.”

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