The Waterloo Region District School Board released its third set of COVID-19 attestation numbers on Wednesday and local education workers continue to be well ahead of the general population in terms of vaccinations.
That was not the case the first time the board released its numbers as in September, just 66.5 per cent of the WRDSB’s 9,851 trustees and employees said they were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but that number rose to 91.5 per cent by the end of the month.
On Wednesday, that number rose to 93.7 per cent as 6,624 of the board’s 7,070 employees are now 100 per cent vaccinated. That number is expected to continue to climb as another 96 people have had at least one jab of a COVID-19 vaccine.
For comparison, 86.51 per cent of eligible Waterloo Region residents are now fully vaccinated, a number that climbs to 74.5 per cent when one factors in those who are under the age of 11.
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It is a similar story at the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, although the pace of new vaccinations has slowed.
According to its most recent update on Oct. 12, 90.8 per cent of its 3,551 employees and trustees are now fully vaccinated, which is up just .01 per centage points.
The numbers are lower when considering those who do work for the boards but are not employed by them, a category which includes school bus drivers.
Just 75.8 per cent of the 1,052 people that fall into that category with the public board are fully vaccinated, while another 7.8 per cent say they are but have not submitted the proper documentation yet. That number is expected to rise as well as 8.27 per cent are partially vaccinated.
The Catholic board, which did not offer as much data, says 78 per cent of the 804 people who are in this grouping are fully vaccinated.
On Sept. 15, the region’s boards were required by the province to post vaccination rates among school board staff, as well as those working for companies affiliated with schools. Both boards have done so a few times now but the much larger public board has added a new category to its attestation dashboard.
It has added a third category that includes occasional and long-term occasional teachers as well as temporary and casual staff.
The board says 1,628 of the 1,628 people who fall into these categories are vaccinated while another 46 (3.5 per cent) are partially vaccinated.
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