See your school’s vaccination rate

On average, 76 percent of school staff in Maine are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but the percentage of staff vaccinated varies widely from school to school, ranging from zero to 100 percent.

Immunization rates are slightly lower for central school operations staff, which includes bus drivers, central office workers, and others who are usually not assigned to a particular school. The overall vaccination rate among these school workers is 69%, according to data released Wednesday by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education.

“More than three-quarters of school staff in Maine have taken a vital step to protect themselves and the health of our children and our communities by getting vaccinated against COVID-19,” said DHHS Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew, in a press release. “By posting these immunization rates every month, we hope to further increase the immunization of school personnel, curb the spread of COVID-19, and provide school leaders with information to make the best decisions for their communities. “

The data released by the state comes weeks after schools returned to full in-person learning and as a late summer wave of COVID-19 spreads through the unvaccinated population in Maine and in all the countries. President Biden called on governors to demand vaccines for teachers and school staff as part of his COVID-19 action plan. The White House said last week that nine states and the District of Columbia already have vaccine requirements for K-12 school staff, while Maine is among the majority of states that don’t. do not have any.

“The governor’s overarching goal is to increase immunizations among all residents of Maine, including teachers and school staff,” said Lindsay Crete, spokesperson for Governor Janet Mills, in an email response to questions of whether the governor would consider a vaccination warrant for the school. Staff. “While we are encouraged to see relatively high immunization rates in many school systems… this data is new and the administration is beginning the process of analyzing it more closely. We will use new data and information from school leaders, other states, and the public to develop additional strategies to help us achieve this goal. “

The new data is part of the state’s COVID vaccine dashboard and will be updated monthly with vaccination rates as of the last day of the previous month as submitted by public and private schools K-12. This month’s immunization rates reflect data as of August 31. The numbers provide the first comprehensive look at vaccination rates for teachers and school staff in Maine, although there are some caveats about the data as well.

Only 85 percent of schools reported vaccination rates, even though the state said it was mandatory. It was not clear on Wednesday whether schools had a uniform way to collect and verify immunization statuses or whether they required reports from their staff. A note in the dashboard indicates that individual staff who did not respond to their school’s request for immunization status were reported as unvaccinated.

“As with all new data collection efforts, this is a work in progress, with the quality and completeness of the data set to increase each month,” the Department of Health and Human Services said in its communicated. “Schools are also encouraged to publish their own prices. “

Among the schools that reported, immunization rates vary widely.

At Cheverus, a private Catholic high school in Portland that implemented a policy earlier this year requiring all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by August 16, all staff are fully vaccinated.

The school employs 105 people and Jeanette Wycoff, director of communications, said the mandate was well received. Requests for medical or religious exemptions were accepted.

In public schools in Portland, the state’s largest district, school staff vaccination rates range from 100% at Longfellow Elementary School to 81% at Deering High School. The vaccination rate for central operations staff is 86 percent. School personnel are defined by the state as any employee, whether full-time, part-time or temporary, who is primarily assigned to a single building, while central operations personnel may work in a district or in several buildings.

The Portland school board voted 5-4 last week to reject a proposal calling for an employee vaccination mandate, with board members citing the district’s already high overall vaccination rate of 92 percent among building staff and concerns that a tenure could result in the loss of staff in hard-to-fill areas such as transportation.

Data released by the state on Wednesday also includes average school staff vaccination rates by county.

Cumberland County has the highest average school staff vaccination rate at 88.9%. Several schools in Cumberland County, including Great Falls Elementary School in Gorham, Cape Elizabeth Middle School and Waynflete School, have vaccination rates close to 100 percent.

Yet even in Cumberland County, there are schools where reported vaccination rates are lower. In Falmouth Public Schools, for example, only 54.7% of school staff at Falmouth Primary School are fully immunized and only 28% of staff in central operations are fully immunized, according to state data.

The state scorecard does not accurately reflect vaccination rates in schools in Falmouth, however, according to Superintendent Gretchen McNulty. McNulty said the dashboard rates reflect staff who have voluntarily reported their immunization status, and not the reflection of all staff.

“We cannot infer that staff who have not voluntarily shared proof of vaccination yet (eg 45% at Falmouth Primary School) are not vaccinated, and we do not believe that this Either way, ”McNulty said in an email. “To date, in fact, the number of elementary school staff who have submitted proof of vaccination is closer to 65%. “

McNulty said the district was standing at a higher standard of evidence than what was required by the state by asking staff to provide proof of vaccination rather than survey responses. This led to the reporting of figures significantly lower than the reality, she said.

“We continue to educate staff on the importance of sharing their immunization status with us, but understand that this is voluntary and not mandatory at this time,” McNulty said. “We expect our reported numbers for the coming month to be significantly higher.”

Waldo County has the lowest number of teachers vaccinated with an average of 60.7 percent. In Unity-based Regional School Unit 3, only 12 percent of staff are vaccinated at Mt. View Elementary School and only 20 percent are vaccinated at Morse Memorial School. Superintendent Charles Brown did not respond to a phone message or email on Wednesday.

Waldo County also has the highest infection rate among counties in Maine.

The publication of data on school staff vaccinations is part of a broader Mills administration strategy to encourage COVID-19 vaccination. The state already publishes estimated vaccination rates for Maine students by school district and reported vaccination rates for health workers.

Overall, the state is a leader in vaccination rates nationwide, with only Vermont and Connecticut showing higher vaccination rates in the general population, according to the US CDC. Sixty-four percent of Maine’s population of 1.3 million people are fully immunized and 73 percent of eligible Mainers ages 12 and older are fully immunized, according to the Maine CDC.

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