You have reached an archived version of this toolkit which was maintained and in use from 2021-2023. As of July 2023, an updated version of the toolkit is available to support all school-located immunization clinic needs. Click here to view the updated version of the School-Located Vaccine Clinic Toolkit For TK-12 Schools. Thank you.”
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Achieving high levels of COVID-19 vaccination among eligible students, teachers, staff, and members of their households is the most effective strategy we have to keep school communities safe. Because schools are an important and trusted center of community life, school sites are an ideal location for COVID-19 vaccine clinics. School-located vaccine clinics can provide a convenient and familiar place to vaccinate students, school staff, and the surrounding community.
School district and school staff and administrators have been working very hard on COVID mitigation efforts throughout the pandemic. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) School Vaccine Team is here to provide support to schools in coordinating COVID vaccine clinics.
This toolkit serves as a guide for coordinating COVID-19 vaccine clinics, including information, best practices, and resources to engage schools in planning and promoting COVID-19 vaccine clinics at schools. School engagement in these steps is critical. Our most successful clinics are those in which the school conducts outreach to students, parents, staff, and communities and takes an active part in clinic planning and implementation.
On the following page, you will find a checklist to guide your school vaccine team through the planning, coordination, and implementation of your school-located vaccine clinics. We recommend printing this checklist to make it easy to track your progress and plan next steps.
If you have any questions about this toolkit or need additional resources, please contact:
For general questions at
dph-educationcovidvaccine@ph.lacounty.gov
Jeanne Aguinaldo at jaguinaldo@ph.lacounty.gov
| COVID-19 School Vaccine Event Checklist for School Administrators | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preparing for your school-located vaccine clinic event | ||
| Recommended Timeline | Task Description | Check When Complete |
| At least 3 weeks before clinic | Connect with COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Partner DPH can assist in identifying vaccine partners for your school if needed. |
|
| At least 3 weeks before clinic | Set a date and time for the COVID-19 Vaccine Clinics
at your school Decide if you want to have an ongoing clinic or a one-time event. Consider timing of second dose event, consider a time when there may be other community events on campus like wellness fairs, fall/winter/spring festivals, COVID-testing, holiday events, etc. Get an estimated count of the number of students/parents interested in receiving a vaccine. |
|
| At least 3 weeks before clinic | Identify key school personnel
to support vaccine clinic event coordination School Principal, Athletic Coaches, Teachers, PTA, School Nurse, Student Leaders/Influencers, etc. |
|
| 2 weeks before clinic | Finalize clinic details and conduct
a site visit of your school with the vaccine provider Walk-through of your school with the vaccinating partner and school personnel who will be present at the school clinic |
|
| Outreach and Promotion of Your School Vaccine Events | ||
| 2 weeks before clinic | Create a flyer with school-clinic
details The vaccine partner will provide web-links for optional pre-registration. Make sure to have translated version of flyers if needed for your school. Share flyers with your DPH liaison for additional support with promoting your event. |
|
| Begin sharing as early as possible; no later than 1 week before clinic | Disseminate Vaccine Clinic Information Print flyers and display at key locations on your school campus Share flyer on landing page of school website Share flyer on school's social media accounts Share flyer via parent/student communications platforms Share clinic information and flyer with athletic coaches and other key staff |
|
| One week before clinic | School principal to send a letter to parents with clinic information | |
| One week before clinic | Remind key school personnel and/or volunteers who will be present on campus during school clinic about upcoming clinic details | |
| Host Vaccine Clinic Event | ||
| Place directional signage and
flyers/banners to guide people to the vaccine clinic location
at your school If the clinic is open to the community, make sure that there are signs at the entrance of the parking lot, so people know where to park and where to go after parking. |
||
| Vaccine provider will arrive up to 1 hour prior to the clinic to set-up | ||
| School volunteers tasked with directing people to clinics and promoting the vaccine clinic to passerby or students/staff who happen to be on campus | ||
| DPH is available for additional support or troubleshooting. | ||
| Assess Vaccine Clinic Event | ||
| Within 1 week following clinic | Identify what went well and lessons learned for future vaccine clinic events, if applicable. Suggested areas for review: planning process, promotion and outreach activities, physical space and set up, clinic flow, day, and time, etc. | |
| Schedule additional clinics as needed. DPH will check in regarding next steps and to help support additional vaccine clinics. |
||
Coordination of school-based vaccine clinics involves the collaboration of three groups:
The vaccine provider will open the clinic(s) in the MyTurn website https://myturn.ca.gov/ and provide the registration link or QR code to use for registration. This link/QR code should be included in promotional flyers. While appointments will help the clinic move smoothly, walk-ins should also be allowed. In addition to school site clinics, or as an alternative, schools may promote vaccination and provide information on COVID-19 vaccine locations nearby. Please refer to step-by-step instructions for finding vaccine clinics.
Identify a team of key school stakeholders that will inspire vaccine confidence and promote a successful vaccine event. This team will coordinate the event with the vaccine provider and implement outreach initiatives to the school community, including peer to peer communication, to improve uptake.
It is key that a school site administrator is aware and involved in the planning of the vaccine clinics.
Members of this team could include:
Principal (or Vice Principal): can send out a letter/email to parents notifying them of the vaccine clinic events and encouraging vaccination
School Nurse: may ask about vaccination when collecting updated immunization records or participate in the vaccine clinic by observing students post-vaccination
Sports Coaches/Athletic Director: can discuss vaccination with athletes and how it can impact participation
Additional key school stakeholders who can help facilitate school vaccine clinics:
On-Site School Staff for Vaccine Clinics
Identify school personnel that will be present during the vaccine clinics, including the lead point of contact. During the planning stage and/or site walk-through, the vaccine provider might also identify how many school staff volunteers will be needed for the clinic event.
Overview
Scheduling School Clinics
Various options can be considered for scheduling school-located COVID-19 vaccine clinics depending on needs, resources, and access. For example, you can schedule one clinic on each of your school campuses or schedule recurring/ongoing clinics at one or more central school sites. You can also decide if the vaccine clinic will be offered for students only, students and school staff, family members, or open to the community. Capacity, space, and needs may vary, but we strongly encourage you to make school vaccine clinics open to the community.
Your Department of Public Health Education Liaison will help identify a vaccine provider for your school if you do not already have one.
When selecting clinic dates and times:
Special Considerations When Planning Vaccine Clinics for Young Children
Currently individuals ages 6 months and older are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The following are some special considerations when planning vaccine clinics for young children:
Identify a space for the vaccine clinic. Typical space options include:
Size of the space needed will depend on number of individuals expected and the length of time of the clinic. Ideally, the space should be configured to allow for a unidirectional flow through each station from check-in to check-out. It is best practice to conduct a walk-thru with the vaccine provider to review the space and confirm what the provider will bring and what the school will supply.
When identifying the site, please consider:
Configure the layout to allow spaces for:
During the site visit, the vaccine provider will help identify where to set up the vaccine clinic. It is recommended that a site map is drafted. It is helpful to label the designated space for each section of the vaccine clinic (check-in and registration, vaccine preparation area, vaccine administration area, and observation area). Satellite maps of the school grounds can also be helpful to plan out the parking area and entrance/exit points.
See resources section to download other sample site plans.
Supplies needed are dependent on both the vaccine clinic location and vaccine provider so please work with your provider to determine specific needs. Vaccine providers will be responsible for bringing all medical/clinical supplies. A list of general supplies and materials that the school may need to provide include:
Key Strategies for Promoting School Vaccine Clinics
Best Practices and Other School Outreach Strategies
Create a vaccine clinic flyer for each school clinic and begin sharing the flyer as early as possible, at least one week before the clinic. The flyer can be printed and posted on your school campus and shared digitally on social media and your school website. If you need assistance creating a flyer, please contact your DPH liaison. On the following pages, we have included several flyer templates that you can use to promote your school events. The templates can be accessed via links to a Google docs folder or Canva (you can create a free account).
The following are key elements to include on your flyers:
Clinic flyer templates are available via Canva (a free online graphic design tool) or downloadable PowerPoint file. To use the templates, click on the links.
LACDPH Resources and Materials for Community Partners
LACOE COVID-19 Vaccine School Clinic Promotion Toolkit (for directional signs and flyer templates)
ALL IN – LACOE Children’s COVID Vaccination Toolkit – parent letters, text/call script templates, flyers
American Academy of Pediatrics Vaccine Campaign Social Media Graphics
After getting the vaccine
Consent of the parent or legal guardian is needed for non-emancipated minors. It can be helpful to have a parent or responsible adult accompany the child during vaccination.
Persons younger than 18 years must have parental or guardian consent given by a legally authorized representative (parent or guardian). An emancipated minor may consent for him/herself.
Allowable consent includes:
The school and vaccine providers may determine the best option(s) for consent based on age and other factors. See resources section for sample consent forms.
Providing incentives can be helpful in promoting your vaccine clinic and increasing participation. Some ideas that have worked for schools include:
DPH liaisons can assist in finding a vaccine partner suitable to provide mobile COVID vaccine services at your school sites.
We recommend that planning start at least 3 weeks before the desired date of the first dose clinics. This will allow you to have enough time to promote the event and help make your vaccine clinic a success! Depending on school resources and staff support available, your DPH liaison can work with you to plan a clinic in a shorter time frame.
Everyone 6 months and older is eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The bivalent vaccines are recommended to be used for all doses for individuals ages 6 months and older. For young children under age 6, multiple doses are still recommended. Vaccine schedule will vary by age, vaccine, and which vaccines were previously received. View the COVID-19 vaccine schedule here.
This toolkit includes three flyer templates you can customize for your vaccine clinic events, as well as info to request CDPH to help in creating customized materials. Please contact your DPH liaison if you need assistance with creating a flyer or need to access the flyer templates in an alternate file format.
No. There is no direct cost to the school or school district
in order to host a vaccine clinic. The vaccine provider will
bring the vaccines and all the clinical supplies needed. We
do encourage you to have at least three school personnel and
security available on site on the day of the clinics, which
may be on a volunteer basis or overtime pay may be needed. If
possible, your school can choose to have additional resources
available during the clinics such as bottled water and/or vaccine
incentives.
Note: The COVID-19 vaccine is free to all individuals and medical
insurance is NOT required, but the vaccine provider may collect health insurance information from people who have insurance.
Yes! This is a great strategy because it increases the visibility of the vaccine clinic and therefore more people will be able to access the vaccine. We have found that these vaccine events are more successful.
School vaccine clinics are usually held in a school cafeteria, auditorium, gym, or an outdoor area such as a section of the parking lot. Scheduling a site visit with your vaccine provider is very important in identifying the optimal vaccine clinic location at your school.
Written consent is allowable, but it is up to the host site and the vaccine provider to decide what will work best for the clinic. For more information on consent click here.
The school vaccine team should familiarize themselves with general information on the COVID-19 vaccine. These resources can also be shared with parents, students, and families.
Resources and sample messaging are available in the TK-12 School Toolkit. Additional resources for parents are available on the COVID-19 Resources for Parents & Guardians webpage.
Public Health has made reasonable efforts to provide accurate translation. However, no computerized translation is perfect and is not intended to replace traditional translation methods. If questions arise concerning the accuracy of the information, please refer to the English edition of the website, which is the official version.
