Chicago Closing Public Schools November 12 for 'Vaccination Awareness Day'

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced it will be canceling school on November 12 for “Vaccination Awareness Day,” so children five and older have the chance to receive their coronavirus vaccinations.

In a Thursday night email, Chief Executive Officer of CPS Pedro Martinez stated the day off will be an “opportunity for parents and guardians to take their children five years of age and older to get vaccinated at their pediatrician’s office, at a healthcare provider, or at a CPS school-based site or community vaccination event,” according to Chalkbeat. 

Martinez said the day off is to ensure that all eligible students will have the chance to receive the immunization as quickly as possible, CBS 2 reports. CPS students will also be off the day before, Thursday, November 11, in observance of Veteran’s Day.

The announcement comes days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky greenlit the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages five to eleven on November 2, as reported by the Associated Press.

According to CBS 2, the day off will be called “Vaccination Awareness Day.”

The Chicago Teachers Union tweeted its support of the move.

CPS plans to close all schools on Nov. 12, giving parents and guardians an opportunity to get their children vaccinated.

We welcome the district acknowledging the urgent need for parents and families to vaccinate their children, and providing time and opportunity to do so.

— ChicagoTeachersUnion (@CTULocal1) November 5, 2021

“CPS plans to close all schools on Nov. 12, giving parents and guardians an opportunity to get their children vaccinated,” the tweet reads. “We welcome the district acknowledging the urgent need for parents and families to vaccinate their children, and providing time and opportunity to do so.”

On November 3, Walgreens announced that it will begin vaccinating children aged five to eleven in thousands of its stores nationwide starting on November 6. CVS announced it will start vaccinating the age group beginning on November 7.

The district has 340,000 students, according to CBS 2.

CBS 2 reports that some working parents are displeased with the short notice of the last-minute day off. 

On Thursday, San Francisco Public Health Officer Dr. Susan Philip said that children ages five to eleven will soon be required to show proof of vaccination when entering indoor businesses and other indoor settings, Breitbart News reported, citing KRON.

Philip spoke about plans for proof of vaccination for children ages five to eleven in a virtual town hall on November 2.

“People have asked me, what about the local San Francisco health orders that require vaccination to go into a restaurant or to go to a Warriors game,” Philip said during the meeting, as reported by KRON. “When is that going to apply to children five to eleven? We definitely want to wait and make sure children have an opportunity to get vaccinated so that will happen no sooner than about eight weeks after the vaccine is available to kids.”

“So there will be a limited time in which there will not be those requirements as planned, but at some point, five- to eleven-year-olds will also have to show proof of vaccination to access some of those same settings,” she added, per KRON.

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