By: Ashmar Mandou

On Wednesday, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced that all CPS employees, as well as vendors who regularly work in schools  — more than 52,000 people — have been offered the opportunity to sign up for vaccination at CPS sites. “Exactly one year ago we were faced with unprecedented uncertainty and today, we are on the horizon of a much brighter future with all of our staff eligible to be vaccinated and students learning in classrooms throughout the city,” said CPS CEO Dr. Janice K. Jackson. With vaccine access improving, the district is launching a campaign to encourage all CPS employees to get vaccinated, whether through the CPS sites, pharmacies, doctors offices or government sites.

The announcement comes one year after all schools in the state of Illinois suspended in-person learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  As of March 15, 2021, approximately 41 percent (19,453 of 47,448 employees) have responded to the vaccine survey, which is critical to gathering a greater understanding of who has and has not received the vaccine and who still needs it. The Chicago Board of Education in February passed a measure requiring CPS employees to provide this information and the district will continue to remind employees to submit this information at their earliest convenience.  While the district only has a part of the picture of who has received the vaccine outside of CPS sites, the data, which draws from CPS vaccination sites and survey reports shows that 14,000 CPS employees have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine.