ATLANTA — School districts across the state have less than two weeks to get a plan in place to vaccinate educators.

Luckily, many of them have been working on developing that vaccination plan for weeks already.

Instead of football or soccer, Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be used as a mass vaccination site by Fulton County Schools to vaccinate as many as 10,000 people in just one week.

Fulton County Schools says vaccinating their employees age 65 and over was a trial run for the mass vaccination effort they plan for mid-March at the stadium.

“It will be six consecutive days. We plan to run all of our employees,” Ron Wade with Fulton County Schools said.

Atlanta Public Schools still hasn’t finalized a location. Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray learned it is planning one large site capable of vaccinating more than 1,000 employees a day.

“It will likely be multiple days based on the amount of staff members we have that have expressed interest,” said Dr Valencia Hildreth with Atlanta Public Schools.

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Each school district will develop its own plan.

Cobb County sent a letter to its employees announcing upcoming drive-thru vaccination sites.

Gwinnett County also sent a letter to staff about its plan to vaccinate 600 of its 25,000 employees a day.

But Gwinnett County’s survey found only about half those employees want the vaccine. That mirrors statewide survey results by the Department of Education.

“If a significant portion of teachers are unwilling to get the vaccine, where does that leave us with getting back to face to face learning? That would be a concern,” said Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Educators. “I believe as we move along and as we begin to see that the vaccines are truly safe and effective that some of that hesitancy will go away.”

Fulton County Schools is planning an educational effort for those employees who are hesitant.

“We’re setting up a series of information sessions that we’re bringing in well-known medical experts,” Hildreth said.

Fulton and Atlanta both had 70% of their teachers express interest in the vaccine.

But statewide, that number is under 50%.

Morgan said some individuals might be more comfortable not getting the vaccine through their employer.

That’s also possible for teachers. They will be eligible starting March 8 to get the vaccine from any provider that offers it.

Cox Media Group