(Waukesha, WI)- Today, school nurses and health aides from Waukesha County area schools are beginning to receive their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Access to the vaccine is the result of an offer from ProHealth Care, who is partnering with Waukesha County Public Health and local school districts to ensure their Phase 1A priority groups can be vaccinated safely and efficiently. Hundreds of school nurses and aides who care for students when they become ill are eligible to be vaccinated.

“Keeping schools open and providing safe access to education is one of the most important things we can do right now,” said Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow. “Not only does the CDC recommend in-person schooling as the best option for most students, it also supports families by allowing parents to work. Vaccinating school nurses and aides will protect our frontline health staff who do so much for the benefit of our entire community.”

ProHealth Care, an organization already certified by the State of Wisconsin to administer vaccines, offered to provide access to doses of vaccine, staff, and facilities to vaccinate nearly 300 school nurses and aides. The hospital group worked with Waukesha County to connect to eligible educational healthcare staff from dozens of public and private schools and school districts.

“Vaccinating school nurses and aides is part of ProHealth Care’s commitment to helping ensure that essential health care workers in our community are immunized against COVID-19,” said Vicki Dallmann-Papke, ProHealth vice president of population health. “It’s also a reflection of ProHealth’s ongoing partnerships with public health officials and local schools.”

Waukesha County is working to connect additional unaffiliated Phase 1A healthcare providers with access to the COVID-19 vaccine and is assisting organizations that are interested in becoming registered vaccinators. The county is releasing a series of surveys to continue this process. These surveys, as well as up-to-date vaccination information, will be available at www.waukeshacounty.gov/covidvaccine.

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