More than 81,000 Kentucky educators, school staff want the COVID-19 vaccine

At least 81,073 public and private school educators and support staff in Kentucky have requested the COVID-19 vaccine, according to preliminary data submitted to the state department of public health.

Kentucky Department of Education spokeswoman Toni Konz Tatman said Tuesday she did not have the total numbers of people surveyed.

Fayette County Public Schools’ employees requested 5,852 vaccinations. Seventy-six percent of certified employees, including teachers, and 53 percent of classified employees, including bus drivers and cafeteria staff, requested the vaccines, district officials said.

The district website said there are 2,692 support and administrative staff in Fayette County schools and 2,928 full-time teachers.

There was a total of 3,645 certified staff and 2,857 classified staff in December 2020.

Public and private schools had until Dec. 30 to submit their vaccination rosters to the Kentucky Department for Public Health.

As of Tuesday, all 171 public school districts in Kentucky had submitted the lists.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has said vaccinating Kentucky teachers is a priority. Fayette Public Health Commissioner Kraig Humbaugh said the limited vaccines currently available in Lexington were being given to health workers and long-term care facility residents. He said school staff would be in the next phase, but he didn’t know if that would be in February.

According to the Kentucky Department of Education, there are 42,024 public school teachers in Kentucky and another 8,824 employees, such as principals, who are certified.

Another 46,455 are considered classified employees, including bus drivers, cafeteria staff and aides.

In total, 212,228 educators hold Kentucky-issued certifications, though that does not mean they are currently employed.

This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 5:11 PM.