SAN DIEGO — About a week after the state moved to vaccinate educators and staff of schools, Linda Lima, a special education preschool teacher from Lakeside School District, is finally taking the first step, to be able to teach in person again.
“We miss them,” said special education teacher Linda Lima. “It will give me a safe feeling that I’m not going to expose any of the children inadvertently.”
Lima works at one of the 242 schools in San Diego County that are eligible to get their first dose of the Moderna Vaccine. When the first doses were given to educators last week, there were long lines and waits like this vaccination center in Chula Vista. But at Sharp Memorial this afternoon, there were far fewer people.
“We have been preparing for 600 [doses] a day,” said Nicole Giangregorio, the manager of women's support programs at Sharp Mary Birch. “We have the vaccine, we have the staff and most importantly we have the volunteers. Our numbers hitting 350 our first week I feel is a great start.”
Giangregorio says that the daily numbers haven't been what they’ve expected, but today there are more than 600 people who signed up to get the vaccine.
An encouraging sign that teachers will soon be able to get back into the classroom.
“We want to vaccinate as many people as we can and get life back to normal for everyone.” She said.
Getting students and teachers back into classrooms is a priority for national, state and local governments. And teachers like Lima now will have to piece of mind to go back and do what she loves.
“I love starting off with these new children,” said Lima “Just nurturing them and teaching them every day. I’m blessed to be able to do that for a living.”