Giant Eagle to offer covid vaccine clinic for Pittsburgh Public Schools teachers, staff

Giant Eagle will offer a two-day covid-19 vaccination clinic for Pittsburgh Public School employees at Heinz Field this week, Giant Eagle and school officials said Wednesday.

Officials said there will be enough vaccine for as many as 3,000 PPS employees at the Thursday and Friday clinics on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. The school district has been utilizing remote learning for nearly a year.

The clinics will provide the first dose of Pfizer’s two-shot vaccine, and educators will be set up with an appointment for their second dose at Heinz Field in 21 days, according to a release from Giant Eagle spokesperson Jannah Joblonowski.

Appointments for the clinics can be made using Giant Eagle’s online appointment tool.

Jablonowski said the Pfizer appointments will complement the state-sanctioned plan to allocate the initial shipments of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for teachers and other school staff across the state.

That plan was announced last week by Gov. Tom Wolf, who said he hopes any teachers and other school staff — including aides, administrators, bus drivers and others — who want the vaccine will have received it by the end of the month.

Jablonowski said appointments for staff in other school districts could open up as soon as Monday.

Officials said the educator-focused clinic will not affect second-dose appointments for anyone who already received a first dose at Heinz Field.

Wolf said last week that giving educators the first shot at the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is “an important step to getting students back into the classroom safely.”

“We need them to get back to school, and if you’ve been offered a vaccine, you ought to be willing to go back to school,” he said.