After providing more than 54,000 vaccinations for K-12 educators, school staff and child care workers in a span of 10 weeks, the Maricopa County Department of Public Health concluded its targeted points-of-dispensing vaccination program for child care workers and educators April 6, according to a news release from the county. This effort included the vaccination of approximately one third of all school and child care workers in Maricopa County, according to the release.

Working with public, private and charter school districts, the Arizona School Administrators Association, the Arizona Charter Schools Association, Albertsons/Safeway and Fry’s pharmacies—plus additional support from Honor Health, Abrazo, Embry Health and hundreds of volunteers—anyone who works in child care or who works on-site for a public, private or charter K-12 school was eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at the school POD events, according to a news release.

Twenty-one school districts, including Chandler USD and Gilbert Public Schools, organized sites for pharmacies and health providers to vaccinate eligible workers within the school districts’ geographic boundaries.

“The partnership with public school districts across the county has proven to be a very effective way for us to protect educators and childcare workers,” MCDPH Executive Director Marcy Flanagan said in a news release. “We are truly thankful for all the work these partners put into this very successful effort that benefited educators beyond their staff lists alone.”

Key results achieved through the Maricopa County PODs for the valley’s educators, according to the news release, include the following.

• 26,036 teachers, child care workers and other essential education personnel have been fully vaccinated


• 17 districts hosted PODs


• 21 total districts offered vaccines


• 59 events took place across 70 days between Jan. 22-April 1