Photo gallery: Most teachers in the La Salle-Peru area will be vaccinated by March

If your kids go to school in the La Salle-Peru area, most of their teachers will be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by St. Patrick’s Day.

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Colleen Schmidt, fourth grade teacher at Northview School in Peru, takes a "selfie" of herself receiving the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine in Dr. A.J. Sellett Gymnasium at La Salle-Peru High School on Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. L-P was selected as a vaccination host site for all elementary feeder schools and three Catholic schools in its boundaries. More than 300 teachers, faculty and staff members were vaccinated at the school on Friday. (Scott Anderson)

Friday, teachers lined up at La Salle-Peru High School to receive the first of two injections to ward off novel coronavirus infection. L-P agreed to be a host site not only for its own teachers but also those from feeder schools, too.

Colleen Schmidt, a third-grade teacher at Peru Elementary, had only a short wait inside L-P’s gym before she received the first of two injections of the Moderna vaccine. She and other recipients then sat in the bleachers to wait 10 minutes in case any side effects materialized. Schmidt reported no headache and praised the staff for efficiency.

“It’s a fast, simple, well-oiled machine,” Schmidt said. She added later several relatives had contracted COVID-19, with adverse symptoms, “so I was anxious to get the vaccine.”

L-P opened its doors to neighboring districts including La Salle, Peru, Oglesby, Lostant, Tonica, Dimmick and Waltham, which includes Utica. L-P Superintendent Steve Wrobleski was unsurprised by the turnout, as participation within his own staff was “very positive.”

“People are excited to get the vaccine,” he said. “It is beginning to feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Local superintendents declined to disclose how many opt-outs they had, but those interviewed signaled participation generally was strong.

“Our level of interest has been good,” said Oglesby Superintendent Michael Pillion. “The majority of staff have signed up to receive the vaccination and are appreciative that it is available to them.”

Vaccinations also were extended to parochial teachers from Peru Catholic, Trinity Catholic Academy in La Salle and Holy Family in Oglesby.

Jyll Jasiek, principal at Holy Family, said the majority of her teachers were keen to get the shot.

“We have had only a small few opt out,” Jasiek said.

Deb Myers, principal at Trinity Catholic, estimated 90% of TCA’s faculty were signed up.

“We are starting to feel a sigh of relief that we can be in the classrooms with our students with added protection,” said Myers, noting that in-person instruction resumed Jan. 11. “Knowing we are a part of the solution is a good feeling.”

Myers said there had been some in-house discussion over whether it was morally permissible for Catholic teachers to take a COVID-19 vaccine based on researchers’ use of stem cells derived from abortion. The U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops answered that late last year, approving the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines “which made only limited use of those unethical cell lines.”

The L-P teaching community was to be inoculated in two groups. The group vaccinated Friday was to receive the second and final shot on Friday, Feb. 19. Group two was to receive the two shots on Friday, Feb. 5, and Friday, March 5.