Diocese of Joliet held vaccination clinic

People who participated in a special COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Feb. 20 will receive their second shots on Saturday.

The clinic was hosted by the Diocese of Joliet Catholic Schools Office, in partnership with KODOCARE Pharmacy, Cathedral of St. Raymond Parish and School, and University of St. Francis nursing program for interested employees in the Diocese of Joliet Catholic School system, according to a news release from the diocese.

Chad Kodiak, parent of three students at Cathedral of St. Raymond School in Joliet, is the second-generation Owner and CEO of KODOCARE Pharmacy.

In the release, Michael Boyle, superintendent of schools, said the diocese had advocated for vaccines for teachers and staff at its 54 schools ever since the COVID vaccines rolled out in Illinois. Schools in the Diocese of Joliet have held in-person instruction all year, he added.

Teachers and school personnel are considered frontline and essential personnel, making them eligible in the 1B vaccine rollout in Illinois, Boyle said in the release.

“Our schools in Grundy, Kankakee and Kendall counties were some of the earliest to have opportunities for their interested staff members to be vaccinated directly through county health departments,” Boyle said in the release. “We knew vaccinating our teachers and staff throughout DuPage and Will counties would be more challenging based on the number of vaccines requested.”

The Catholic Schools Office for the diocese sought out partnerships to make the vaccines available for teachers and staff. But because of the high demand and limited supply of the COVID-19 vaccine, and because the diocese has approximately 1,600 school personnel across its five counties, schools also looked for opportunities, the release said.

Some of these Catholic schools reached out to their local public schools to see if they could be included in those vaccine distribution plans. Other schools partnered with health care providers, the release said.

“We contacted our principals about the status of their buildings in terms of being approached about vaccines or if there is a plan in place,” Boyle said in the release. “We asked each school if they had already made arrangements for staff to receive the vaccine, and if not, to assess the number of staff interested in doing so.”

More than 20 percent of the diocese’s school personnel were vaccinated at this clinic. Approximately 83% of these schools have staff who have been vaccinated, the release said.

Principals sent out emails to school personnel with instructions on how to sign up for a vaccination appointment at the school in Joliet. The school set apart a dedicated area for the vaccination clinic.

To watch video highlights of the vaccine clinic, visit vimeo.com/515492548.