SALEM, MASS. (WHDH) - More than 100 school districts across Massachusetts are holding free COVID-19 vaccine clinics for students in an effort to boost numbers and walk back the state’s mask mandate in classrooms
If 80 percent of eligible students are vaccinated by Oct. 1, school districts can end the mask mandates for middle and high schoolers. Officials said the greater amount of vaccinated students, the less likely the virus will spread in schools.
“The more people in that classroom, the more vaccinated, the safer it will be and more promising school will continue to be in person,” said Dr. Christin Price, who was running a Jamaica Plain clinic.
Gov. Charlie Baker added at a clinic in Everett that these clinics are also encouraging parents of students to get vaccinated.
“In some cases, it’s parents and kids who are coming to get vaccinated which in some respects is a bonus that if you have a program like this, if you can get the kids interested maybe they can get the parents to come get vaccinated as well,” he said.
Clinics are offering school supplies, gift cards, and other incentives to students to get shots.
“I wanted the vaccine and free ice cream,” said 12-year-old Shaila Martin in Lynn, where the American Federation of Teachers helped organize a clinic.
In addition to offering vaccine clinics, many schools are implementing safety protocols to protect against the coronavirus such as holding classrooms outdoors and keeping windows open for ventilation.
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