1,000 District 20 educators to receive first dose of covid vaccine by end of Friday

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Several Academy District 20 teachers are breathing a sigh of relief after receiving their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from UC Health.

District 20 leaders say by the end of Friday, a thousand of their teachers and staff members will have received their first dose of the vaccine.

Dana Malfeld, a science teacher at Discovery Canyon Campus High School, said it's been a whirlwind leading up to this point.

"I just got my shot, and I’m feeling awesome, I don’t feel any different, it’s just relief, like a bunch of bricks just came off my head," said Malfeld. “I got notified Friday evening that I could make an appointment, and I did that right away, and here I am, I think I stood in line for five minutes if that.”

After officially partnering with UCHealth last Friday, District 20 leaders said of the 2,500 of their educators who said they were interested in receiving the vaccine, only 1,500 actually signed up.

They believe those who didn’t sign up may have gotten their doses elsewhere.

“We're telling all of our staff to cast their net far and wide, sign up on as many lists as you can, 'cause we want you to be able to be vaccinated as quick as possible,” said Malfeld.

District 20 leaders said Centura and Kaiser have also agreed to partner with them for vaccinations, but that won’t start for another week.

Officials said they're looking forward to bringing some normalcy back to their classrooms, starting with brining high school and middle school students back on campus four or five days a week. They hope that will happen as soon as March or April.

District 20 leaders say is not making vaccinations mandatory. However, those who choose not to will still be required to teach in the classroom once things are back to normal.