Governor announces over 200,000 education workers have been vaccinated in the past week, surpassing goal

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom announced March 8 that, since the state began dedicating 10% of vaccine supply for education workers on March 1, over 200,000 education workers have been vaccinated, far exceeding the state’s goal of 75,000 vaccines per week.

“This is welcome news for teachers, students and parents as more and more schools reopen safely across the state,” said Governor Newsom. “We will continue working with our local partners to accelerate this effort in communities across the state so that all school staff have access to a vaccine within weeks.”

California was among the first states to authorize vaccines for education workers, with vaccine prioritization a core component of the Safe Schools for All Plan since December. Prior to the Governor’s 10-percent commitment, 35 counties were actively vaccinating education workers. Last week, through accelerated county-led efforts and supplemental state efforts, over 200,000 education workers in all 58 counties were vaccinated.

This news comes on the heels of continued success in California’s vaccination effort – 10.5 million vaccinations have been administered in the state. More than one in 10 Californians over the age of 16 (3.35 million) are fully vaccinated and more than one in four (1.7 million) people 65 and over are fully vaccinated.

The Governor last week signed a $6.6 billion package to safely get students back in school, which provides additional funding to support safety measures for in-person instruction and expanded learning opportunities.

The package also codifies several successful state initiatives, including the Governor’s commitment, beginning March 1, to dedicate 10% of the state’s vaccine supply to education workers – such as teachers, paraprofessionals, school bus drivers, child care workers and site-based administrators. The state outlined its plan to execute on the Governor’s commitment last month.

For more information about safe returns to in-person instruction, please visit schools.covid19.ca.gov.