With new eligibility for the vaccine, Madison school staff are on the fast track to get their shots, with the 700 or so school employees likely to get at least the first dose in the next three weeks according to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Craig Cooke.

“It’s moving faster than we thought a week ago,” Cooke said. “So we’re really pleased about that.”

With clinics this past March 1, as well as Thursday, March 4 and Saturday, March 6, Cooke said there are 250 doses lined up for Madison staff, which includes everyone from teachers to school bus drivers. Administration has scrambled to find coverage so employees can make their appointments, and Cooke said he was “very pleased” with the effort on short notice.

Governor Ned Lamont announced that school employees across the state would have access to the vaccine on March 1, and there would be “dedicated clinics” for that purpose for that month. It was not clear exactly how, where, and when distribution would happen, and Cooke said it wasn’t until Feb. 26 that he got details about the local effort.

Though he cautioned there had been no guarantees made about upcoming weeks—how many doses would be available or how they would be distributed—Cooke said he thought three weeks was a reasonable timeline for everyone to get a shot.

Currently the clinics are being held in Guilford, and are serving a handful of regional town employees as well.

“If we have the same numbers, it will be three weeks for sure,” he said. “We’re getting there.”

As many parents have pushed for more in-person learning, Cooke said that a full vaccination of staff would be “an item in the column of re-opening.”

Currently, only Daniel Hand High School is in a hybrid model, Cooke said, with other grade levels essentially fully in-person.

“We know they are not fully vaccinated until two weeks after their second shot, however, even the first shot has been shown to increase the immunity to [the virus],” he said. “So that’s a good thing.”

The CDC recently updated guidance, recommending that fully vaccinated persons do not have to quarantine after an exposure to the virus as long as they remain asymptomatic. Cooke said Madison schools would follow that advice, but would not alter quarantines until someone had achieved that full vaccinated status.

A survey put out by the district late last year indicated 83 percent of staff would sign up for the vaccine. Cooke said he thought that number had likely increased, saying “north of” 90 percent of staff intended to get the shot now.