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LINEVILLE – Facing a group of Central High teenagers wearing masks, Robbie Stubbs tried to brighten up the mood.
“Have you been breastfeeding recently?” Stubbs asked, expecting a chuckle from at least one Clay County teen. “Any dermal fillers, Kim Kardashian lips?”
A student uttered a “no” through a disposable blue mask that they’d been instructed to wear by the school nurse. The Tuesday morning sun brought out the green in Stubbs’ camouflage face covering.
“I haven’t gotten a single laugh out of that all day,” Stubbs said, continuing down the list of standard vaccine screening questions: “Have you had COVID? How long ago? Were you treated? Are you allergic to anything? Which arm do you want it in?”
Read more: Alabama school district becomes first to cancel class as COVID cases rise.
The Clay County students are among the most recent age groups to become eligible for the coronavirus vaccine. Just weeks before Alabama schools started classes, state health officials and experts said it was more important than ever for eligible children to get the vaccine to protect them from the deadly delta variant of the coronavirus, which already has placed a record number of children in the hospital.
Cullen Burke, a seventh grader, said his doctor encouraged him to get vaccinated as soon as possible. He said he was a little nervous about getting the COVID-19 vaccine, but he was used to shots.
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Burke, who has Type-1 diabetes, is immunocompromised, which means he was able to opt in to fully virtual classes last year. He’s back with his classmates this year, which he said made him a little anxious. He won’t stop sanitizing his hands or taking precautions, but his blue eyes widened with excitement at the thought of being able to take his mask off at a restaurant next month after becoming fully vaccinated.
“When I heard that there was a deadlier strain, I was like, ‘Vaccine? Where are ya?’” he said.
Stubbs is the emergency preparedness director of Alabama Department of Public Health’s Northeastern District, which serves 11 counties. In July, she put out a call to superintendents and offered vaccination services in their schools.
Many Alabama schools already have doubled as vaccine sites, offering services in easy-to-reach, central locations for students, staff and sometimes local residents.
In some communities, schools have played an integral role in boosting local vaccination rates.
Last spring, nearly all of Tuskegee’s teachers and staff had gotten vaccinated after concerted efforts from local leaders, and early this summer, Doug Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, visited a free vaccination clinic at Jackson-Olin High School in Birmingham.
But as mid-summer approached, Stubbs said northeast Alabama’s vaccination rates waned.
“We went from 1000 doses a day to nothing,” she said to nurses while they prepared supplies.
Northeast Alabama has some of the lowest vaccination rates in the state. In Clay County, just 29% of residents are fully vaccinated, a lower rate than the state average, according to data from the state health department.
But as classrooms across the state send scores of students to quarantine in their first days back, a handful of northern, rural districts are answering Stubbs’ call.
Once federal officials authorized emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine for children 12 and up, Sommer Melton, Clay County Schools’ lead nurse, started making her own plans to start vaccine clinics at area schools. She and school leaders ultimately decided it made more sense to offer vaccines once school was back in session and students had access to transportation.
By the time Melton approached Superintendent Jared Wesley about the idea, he had already talked to Stubbs, and the plan was set.
In total, nurses administered 25 shots to students and staff at Central High on Tuesday, with three more appointments scheduled at nearby Ashland Elementary. Only two teachers had signed up to get vaccinated at the high school, and no local residents answered the school’s offer to provide vaccines to the public.
Stubbs, who has set up clinics with five other northeastern districts, said turnout in Clay County matched recent showings for school clinics in DeKalb, Etowah and Talladega counties. Fort Payne issued 75 shots, but she said that was likely because they set up clinics at multiple schools. Combined, schools accounted for about 200 vaccinations in the region this summer.
“It’s better than nothing, and I’m happy for that,” Melton said of Clay County’s turnout.
Back at Stubbs’ table, a nurse lifted a student’s left sleeve, secured half of a Band-Aid and warned that they’d feel a prick.
Then it was done.
Stubbs handed back their immunization form (“Go give this to your mama ‘n ‘em,” she said) and presented a vaccination card, instructing the student to wait in the sunlit lobby for 15 more minutes.
She continued to flip through stacks of Emergency Use Authorizations and screening forms and motioned the line forward.
“Oh, come on, don’t run up here all at one time now!” she joked.
While waiting in line, several students shrugged off feelings of nervousness or anxiety. Some said they were just getting the vaccine because “my mom wants me to get it.” One student said she wanted to be able to travel, and also not worry about her grandmother contracting the virus.
Then there was ninth-grader Tyler Boyd, who was quick to get to the point with his reasoning.
“[I’m getting the vaccine] so I don’t die,” he said, adding that he had tested positive last year. “Children get it, and I feel like I’ll have a greater chance of living.”
His brother, eighth grader Taylor Boyd, said he was getting his shot because he didn’t want to quarantine like he did last year -- twice, he said.
At its highest peak, 10 Clay County students tested positive for the coronavirus in a one week period last year, and close contacts had to quarantine at home.
Ensleigh Giddens, an eighth-grader, sat at a table with four friends while she waited. She said she also wanted to get the vaccine so that she didn’t have to worry about being quarantined if she came in contact with a COVID-positive student.
“I was just waiting to see what happened with the numbers,” she said, noting that the recent surge in cases gave her a sense of urgency.
In the back of the lobby, her father, PE coach Steve Giddens, strolled in from the gym and bantered with students about which arm they wanted to get their shot in. He assured others the stick wouldn’t be “that bad.”
Steve Giddens, who was vaccinated a few months ago, consulted local doctors about getting his daughter vaccinated and decided it was the right thing to do. He said he appreciated that the school offered students like Ensleigh options to take care of their health.
“It’s your choice,” he said. “Nobody’s forced to take it.”
Melton said most questions she received came down to hesitations about one brand over the other, and Stubbs mentioned that many parents ask questions about the emergency use label. Federal officials have said they hope to get the vaccines fully through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s authorization process by the end of the year; medical experts say that, despite the current EUA label, vaccines have proven safe and effective for children.
Melton is hopeful that Moderna will be fully approved soon, which will allow the school to provide more vaccines throughout the year for students and staff who didn’t sign up this time.
Stubbs has a similar goal: She wants to get back to administering 1000 doses a day. In the meantime, she said, masks and other precautionary measures like isolating and quarantine protocols will be crucial to stopping the spread of the virus -- especially in schools.
About half of Alabama districts have issued mask mandates this year, according to AL.com reporting. Clay County doesn’t require masks but encourages them for unvaccinated students.
“The vaccine is the prevention; it’s not the cure. We hope it’s going to cure deaths. We hope it’s going to cure hospitalizations… But it’s not going to cure COVID,” Stubbs said. “But it is another layer of protection, like a blanket, and you need every layer you can get.”