Chester County schools will offer COVID vaccine to students 16 and older
Chester County School District is partnering with The Medical University of South Carolina Health to offer COVID-19 vaccines to its students.
School staff also can take advantage of this opportunity. The district will not provide vaccines to the general public, a press release said.
The district will host clinics at Lewisville High School, Great Falls High School and Chester High School on May 20, according to the release. Students can return for a second day of clinics on June 10 to receive their second vaccine dose.
Students will need parental consent to get vaccinated. Parents and legal guardians will be sent a permission form. They also can access the form through the district website. These forms must be completed by May 19.
Staff also will need to sign a consent form.
These forms will be verified by school nurses over the phone, Chris Christoff, reprensentative for the district said.
After that, students and staff need to register online with MUSC health. The district will contact students once the website is live, as it is still in the works.
“I want to thank our friends at MUSC Health, as well as our own district staff who helped in setting this up for our students,” CCSD Superintendent Antwon Sutton said.
Sutton said the district wants to provide this extra protection after an executive order by S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster last Tuesday.
Order 2021-23, “empowers parents to decide whether their children should wear masks in public schools.”
The order directed the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control to develop and distribute a form that parents can sign to “opt their child out of mask requirements imposed by any public school official or school district.”
“We hope this comes as a much needed sigh of relief for those who have concerns over the recent changes with facial coverings in schools,” Sutton said.
This story was originally published May 17, 2021 at 1:54 PM.
