Teachers and staff from Greenfield Union School District line up for a Covid-19 vaccination clinic at Mee Memorial in King City on March 5, during which 260 educators were immunized. The hospital also hosted vaccine clinics for King City school employees and city staff on March 12 and 15, respectively. (Sean Roney/Staff)

KING CITY — Mee Memorial Healthcare System administered more than 600 doses of Covid-19 vaccine to employees of King City Union School District and the City of King in the past week.

The March 12 clinic was open to not only the school district’s educators, but also substitute teachers and staff members from Pro Youth and the Monterey County Office of Education, who all interact with King City’s elementary students. About 300 doses were provided that day.

District nurse Sarah Stoddard coordinated with Mee Memorial to get the clinic set up for educators. The district also sent out surveys to find out most of its estimated 300 active staff members were interested in getting the vaccine.

Meanwhile, Executive Assistant Cinda Muzylowski sent out the invitations to personnel.

“We’re last in the local school districts that have this dedicated clinic for us, so a lot of people originally said yes and made appointments and canceled them now because they’ve been able to get the vaccine elsewhere,” Muzylowski said about getting an accurate gauge of how many employees attended the clinic.

The district’s school board voted earlier in the week to begin planning for a reopening of the four schools.

“One of the sticking points for staff coming back was wanting to have access to the vaccine,” Muzylowski said.

With the clinic in place, everyone in the district’s roster had access to the vaccine and an opportunity to receive it. Muzylowski explained the vaccination clinic didn’t speed up reopening plans.

“It doesn’t really change it,” she said regarding the decisions to come up with reopening procedures. “It assisted in moving toward that goal.”

Earlier this month, roughly 260 educators and staff from the Greenfield Unified School District also received first-dose vaccines during a vaccination clinic at Mee Memorial.

Community assistance efforts continued this week when Mee Memorial hosted a clinic for city employees of King City on March 15. The employees received the first dose of their Pfizer vaccination, with appointments ready for 300 people.

This Saturday, March 20, Mee Memorial’s Albert and Donna Oliveira Clinic in Greenfield will provide 375 vaccine appointments for workers from the Grower-Shipper Association and city employees of Gonzales.

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Sean Roney is a freelance reporter for King City Rustler and Salinas Valley Tribune, a unified publication of Greenfield News, Soledad Bee and Gonzales Tribune. He covers general news for the Salinas Valley communities in South Monterey County.

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