Schools push to be vaccination sites, but low supply poses challenges

California school campuses could be future mass vaccination sites for their local communities, according to new state guidelines. But low supply and slow rollout of the new vaccines could hinder those efforts, the Los Angeles Times reports.

California school officials such as Austin Beutner, superintendent of Los Angeles Unified, California’s largest school district, have pushed to make school sites the location for upcoming inoculation plans. Districts must first get approval from county health officials in order to do so, and L.A. County health officials have said they would welcome schools as potential partners in the vaccine rollout.

However, due to the current limited supply of vaccines, it’s unclear just when schools may be able to offer their communities vaccines. Another challenge is that the vaccines must be kept in secure, temperature-controlled locations, which not all schools are equipped with.

“The complexity of issues including cold-chain requirements and the significant documentation requirements with the state database platform means it might not be ideal for all districts,” L.A. County health officials said. “Districts with already operating vaccination programs would have an easier time adopting and implementing these requirements.”