Although the 5:00 pm March 19, 2021, deadline is fast approaching, there is still time for early childhood education (ECE) professionals to participate in the ECE Special Initiative for Janssen, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 Vaccine.
ECE program directors should complete the Survey for Immunization Needs by 5:00 pm Friday, March 19, 2021, to provide a count of their program’s eligible and interested staff. Please note, this information will be shared with the retail pharmacy partner(s) in your area for planning purposes, however, it will not register staff for a vaccine.
ECE staff who would like to register to receive the vaccine through the Special Initiative must complete the ECE Registration Request Form by 5:00 pm Friday, March 19, 2021. Registrants will be contacted by the retail pharmacy partner(s) assigned to their area with further instructions sometime after the survey closes on March 19, 2021.
ECE staff who are directly employed by PreK-12 public and non-public schools or Intermediate Units (IUs) will receive additional information from their employers and should not submit their information through the ECE Registration Request Form. The Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Education (PDE) and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) are working with the IUs to set up dedicated vaccination sites for PreK-12 staff across the state. Interest in this portion of the special initiative is being collected through a separate survey distributed by PDE to public and private schools and IUs.
For all other ECE professionals, child care providers, and staff of community-based ECE providers, the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) is coordinating access to the J&J vaccine with retail pharmacy partners by providing the pharmacy partners with the information collected through both the Survey for Immunization Needs and the ECE Registration Request Form.
ECE staff should submit their information through one survey only. Submitting information on both the ECE Registration Request Form and the survey distributed by PDE to public and private schools and IUs will tie up resources and scheduling time due to duplication.
As a reminder, educators, child care and Head Start staff were prioritized by the federal administration and can independently reach out to schedule their own vaccination, independent of this Special Initiative, should they have access to vaccine in their community. OCDEL encourages all ECE and pre-K-12th grade educators to become vaccinated.
View the FAQ document. More information regarding the Janssen Vaccine Special Initiative and ECE workforce can be found at www.pakeys.org or the COVID-19 Vaccine for Pre-K to 12 School Staff on the PDE website.