First group of Manatee teachers receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Many others are waiting

Linda Carnes joined the School District of Manatee County in 1974 and dedicated her life to education. After receiving the first dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine on Monday morning, Carnes will soon return to campus and resume her lifelong passion.

Carnes, who turns 69 on Tuesday, was among dozens of school district employees to receive the vaccine on Monday. The district partnered with MCR Health and made vaccines available to anyone 65 or older, a group that totaled about 300 teachers, bus drivers and other district employees.

As someone with underlying health conditions, Carnes spent several months working as an online teacher, sacrificing face-to-face time with her students and staying safe during the pandemic.

She was eager to receive the second injection and return to Palmetto High School in the upcoming quarter.

“I’m ready to go back to work and finish out these last couple of years in my teaching career,” Carnes said,

Vaccinations were expected to continue at Southeast High School and Manatee Elementary School on Tuesday. MCR Health, which operates a clinic at both campuses, received about 1,600 vaccines from the Florida Department of Health in Manatee County — plenty for the first round of district employees.

Patrick Carnegie, the president and chief executive officer of MCR Health, said he worked with Superintendent Cynthia Saunders and Dr. Jennifer Bencie, head of the county health department, to make the vaccines available.

“I’m thankful for our partnership with the local department of health,” he said. “I was able to secure vaccines from those guys because we haven’t received our allotment from the state at all. With time ticking, we needed to get out here and vaccinate the community and our own front-line people.”

Antonio Roman-Perez, 66, said he waited patiently for a vaccine to become available. As the long-awaited moment approached on Monday morning, he felt a sense of peace and optimism.

“Excellent,” he said moments after receiving his first injection. “Didn’t feel it.”

Roman-Perez is a coordinator for the Farmworker Career Development Program within the school district. His team helps migrant and seasonal farmworkers pursue new skills and high-paying jobs.

He left Monday’s appointment with a sense of hope for the future. Roman-Perez said he knew of farmworkers who died from COVID-19, and that he looked forward to the day when more people had access to a vaccine.

“If the opportunity comes along, jump on it,” he said. “Do it right away. Get the shot, get it over with and just be part of the force that is doing the right thing. We need to get this pandemic behind us.”

Jacqueline Jordan, 67, has continued to teach at Anna Maria Elementary School during the pandemic. She was comforted by the regular hand-washing, the desk partitions and the use of sanitizer between classes.

The vaccine was another layer of protection against COVID-19 and the threat it posed to her loved ones, especially when it came to Jordan’s husband, who has underlying health conditions.

“I have a friend who has asthma really bad,” Jordan said. “She is a virtual teacher and she would love to go back to the classroom. She’s not going until she can be vaccinated.”

Much like her friend, thousands of school district employees fall below Florida’s current age requirement for the vaccine. Meanwhile, COVID-19 continued to spread in Manatee County, which logged 28,702 cases and 499 deaths as of Monday.

More vaccinations were needed to protect school employees from infections that start in the community and find their way onto local campuses, she said.

As of Friday evening, about a month after the second semester began, Manatee schools and district offices reported a total of 180 cases and more than 2,500 exposures to the infected students and employees.

“I’ll be glad when it’s over and everyone’s vaccinated,” Jordan said.

This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 4:31 PM.