On the heels of announcing approval as a Closed Point of Distribution (POD) for COVID-19 vaccines for its employees, Henry County Schools has completed an application and review process for a required medical director and announced the selection of Dr. Loren Pierce, owner of Moye’s Pharmacy, to fill this role for the school district’s vaccine distribution efforts. The selection comes at the same time as Governor Kemp announcing educators are now eligible to receive vaccines as a part of the state’s vaccination rollout plan.

District 4 Public Health officials announced that Henry County Schools was approved to provide vaccines for employees opting to receive them, and the operational requirements called for a single medical director to oversee all functions of distribution efforts.

“We were very stringent in our requirements for the right person to fill this critical role for our district,” said Superintendent Mary Elizabeth Davis. “After a thorough vetting process, the recommendation was made to partner with Dr. Pierce from Moye’s Pharmacy to help provide this important access to this COVID-19 safety measure for our employees.”

Dr. Pierce is now tasked with the oversight of Henry County Schools’ Closed POD operations to ensure vaccination administration safety, vaccine ordering and inventory accuracy, and proper reporting of vaccination documentation as well as a host of other responsibilities outlined by the Georgia Department of Public Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Henry County Schools teachers and staff members recently completed a survey to provide a clearer picture of just how many employees were interested in receiving a COVID-19 vaccine when they were made available to teachers and school personnel as a part of Phase 1B of the state’s vaccination rollout plan.

Nearly 80 percent of employees responding to the survey indicated they were interested in receiving the vaccine, were strongly considering the vaccine based on available information, or had already taken the vaccine due to eligibility as a part of the current Phase 1A+ of the state’s vaccination rollout plan.

“The feedback we received from our employees is encouraging in that we have a large segment of our workforce looking to take advantage of this health and safety measure,” added Davis.

District officials continue their comprehensive preparations with operational details nearly complete. Registration and vaccine scheduling information for employees will be released soon. The Henry Learning and Support Center at Henry County Middle will be the distribution site location once operations are cleared to begin.

In an effort to ensure the greatest coverage of mitigation efforts through vaccination distribution, Henry County Schools is also reaching out to private schools and daycares in the county to gauge interest from their employees to be able to receive the vaccine.

“We are thankful that Governor Kemp has prioritized educators and school staff in the state-wide vaccination distribution plan,” stated Davis. “We want to be prepared to do our part in the Henry County community to directly serve our teachers and school staff in this greater health effort. We are excited to move to this next phase of providing access to these important vaccines.”

For more information on Henry County Schools, visit www.henry.k12.ga.us.