Teachers, school staff and other people eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine received their first dose Friday at Cape Girardeau Central High School during a clinic organized by the school district and local pharmacies.

Persons employed in critical infrastructure sectors were eligible for the vaccine after Gov. Mike Parson initiated Phase 1B, Tier 3 of the state’s vaccination plan this week.

“We have been anxiously awaiting the opening of this phase,” said Lee Schlitt, co-owner of Broadway and Park pharmacies. “Many of our local teachers have reached out to us and added their names to our wait list because they want to be vaccinated to help get our school systems back to a sense of normalcy,” Schlitt added.

Monica Powles from John's Pharmacy, right, fills a syringe with the Pfizer-Biotech vaccine to be distributed to eligible recipients during a clinic at Cape Central High School in Cape Girardeau on Friday, March 19, 2021. Missouri is vaccinating persons in Phase 1A and 1B, tiers 1, 2 and 3. This group includes health care workers, those at high-risk and emergency services providers and will include essential workers on March 15. For information on vaccinators in your area, visit www.covidvaccine.mo.gov/navigator.Sarah Yenesel ~ Southeast Missourian

Broadway and Park pharmacies were joined John’s Pharmacy in Cape Girardeau and Jones Drug Store in Jackson for the mass vaccination. They worked directly with the Cape Girardeau Public School System and the Jackson R-2 School District to organize and provide the space and volunteers for the clinic. Volunteers from the districts and pharmacies worked side by side to keep the clinic running smoothly.

When speaking about why she chose to volunteer by giving out vaccines at the clinic, head nurse at Cape Schools Dana Deisher said, “This is an opportunity you’ll never get again. Hopefully, we’re not going to live through another pandemic while I’m alive. But, I just think everybody needs to do their duty and help out when they can.”

“I was a little weary at first, but now I am excited,” Jackson High social studies teacher Camilla Sisk said about getting her first dose. “I’ve seen my friends get it, and I am ready to get back to normal, so I’m not putting my family, especially my parents and grandparents, in danger when I’m around them. I’m excited to get it.”

Jacyee Pryor from John's Pharmacy fills a syringe with the Pfizer-Biotech vaccine to be distributed to eligible recipients during a clinic at Cape Central High School in Cape Girardeau on Friday, March 19, 2021. Missouri is vaccinating persons in Phase 1A and 1B, tiers 1, 2 and 3. This group includes health care workers, those at high-risk and emergency services providers and will include essential workers on March 15. For information on vaccinators in your area, visit www.covidvaccine.mo.gov/navigator.Sarah Yenesel ~ Southeast Missourian

“As a principal of a high school, I think I have to set the example for everybody else, and I’ve always taken the flu shot every year,” Mark Ruark, principal of Saxony Lutheran High School, said after getting his first dose. “You know, I want to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and the vaccination is the way to get it done. I have great confidence that it’s safe and will be effective.”

On Thursday, all those who are eligible under the active phases were invited to make an appointment to receive the Pfizer-BioTech vaccine once it was announced that the 1,200 appointments were not all filled after they were offered to teachers and school staff from Southeast Missouri schools.

Krisin Tallent, communications director for Cape schools, noted some school staff are already vaccinated due to their eligibility in earlier phases.

Music teacher Kevin Mansco from Soldan High School in St. Louis receives his first COVID-19 vaccine dose during a clinic at Cape Central High School in Cape Girardeau on Friday, March 19, 2021. Missouri is vaccinating persons in Phase 1A and 1B, tiers 1, 2 and 3. This group includes health care workers, those at high-risk and emergency services providers and will include essential workers on March 15. For information on vaccinators in your area, visit www.covidvaccine.mo.gov/navigator.Sarah Yenesel ~ Southeast Missourian

Music teacher Kevin Mansco from Soldan High School traveled from St. Louis to get vaccinated. He said that he was only offered the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in his local area, and he preferred to get one of the two-dose vaccines.

After receiving his vaccine first dose, teacher’s assistant and coach at Cape schools Stephen Hemby said, “There will come a time where maybe it needs to be done, and if the school is going to offer it and it’s an easy thing we’re going to do — we’re off of school today — it was the right thing to do in my opinion.”

“Our schools need to be open for the community to run smoothly,” Tallent said. “Parents obviously need their children at school so they can work. So it’s extremely important for our teachers, as the first line of education, to be vaccinated. We also really feel passionately about our teachers being able to deliver education in a safe and healthy manner, and so, if we’re going to ask our teachers to be in classrooms in front of students every day, we want them to be as protected as possible.”

Head nurse at Cape Schools Dana Deisher, right, gives a vaccine dose during a clinic at Cape Central High School in Cape Girardeau on Friday, March 19, 2021. Missouri is vaccinating persons in Phase 1A and 1B, tiers 1, 2 and 3. This group includes health care workers, those at high-risk and emergency services providers and will include essential workers on March 15. For information on vaccinators in your area, visit www.covidvaccine.mo.gov/navigator.Sarah Yenesel ~ Southeast Missourian

Tallent said that Cape schools will have a virtual learning day when they give out second doses April 9, instead of in-person classes so teachers can give out assignments online and take the time to get vaccinated. Tallent also mentioned both doses were scheduled for Friday in case staff have the somewhat common mild symptoms post-vaccination so they would have time to get better without missing work the following Monday.

To accommodate other schools that don’t have the day off on Friday, the clinic was extended to run until 7 p.m., and Cape schools staff purposely took morning appointments so later ones were available.

Assistant Principal at Saxony Lutheran High School Missy Ruark receives her first COVID-19 vaccine dose during a clinic at Cape Central High School in Cape Girardeau on Friday, March 19, 2021. Missouri is vaccinating persons in Phase 1A and 1B, tiers 1, 2 and 3. This group includes health care workers, those at high-risk and emergency services providers and will include essential workers on March 15. For information on vaccinators in your area, visit www.covidvaccine.mo.gov/navigator.Sarah Yenesel ~ Southeast Missourian