CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – On Monday, over 200 Clarksville-Montgomery County School System employees lucked into getting a COVID-19 vaccine after the CEO of Tennova Healthcare-Clarksville called the school district about a surplus of vaccinations that were about to expire.
Schools Director Millard House received a call from Alex Villa, CEO of Tennova in Clarksville, that morning, and Villa told House the hospital would be unable to distribute those vaccines before that expiration time.
“They had 305 vials of the vaccine that if they didn’t get out, and get into arms, they were going to go bad. So the director of the Health Department at the state level told Tennova essentially that ‘If you can find 300 arms to get it in, get it done,'” House said at the district’s School Board meeting Tuesday night.
“(Villa) called me, and we immediately, within an hour, had 200 people in line,” House said.
The vaccines came from Sumner County, where a strong wind storm had damaged that county’s COVID-19 vaccine point of distribution.
The 305 doses were divided between Austin Peay State University and CMCSS. The school district received 205 vials, and Austin Peay received around 95, according to House.
Five doses of the vaccine were allocated for every CMCSS school. In total, over 200 CMCSS employees were vaccinated Monday, representing around 8% of the 2,500 employees who have signed up to get the vaccine when it becomes available.
“Due to the limited amount of time we had to get employees to Tennova, we decided to move forward with a plan to have five school-based employees per school who were 65 years or older or in the high-risk group receive the vaccine. We immediately sent a communication to school administrators who communicated with employees and worked to find coverage for teachers, as needed,” CMCSS Chief Communications Officer Anthony Johnson said.
House said he went over to Tennova on Monday to watch the process, and offered any assistance where it was needed to get those employees vaccinated as fast as possible.
“We are grateful to Tennova for reaching out to us. This process was a bit hectic, but we did not want to see vaccines wasted if we could get our employees there. We remain hopeful that the state will provide (CMCSS’s) Onsite Employee Health and Wellness (clinic) with vaccines soon so we can have a more controlled distribution for our around 2,500 employees who have already signed up so they can get this important preventative measure,” Johnson added.
CMCSS said it will continue to work with Tennova about communicating with employees who received the first dose about specifics for their second dose.
Tennova was not immediately available for comment.