Schools in Trumbull County will begin getting the vaccine the week of Feb. 22, the last week of the state’s rollout.

Staff members in Mahoning and Columbiana schools will be among the 91,000 school employees who will be eligible to receive vaccinations next week.

The Trumbull County schools were assigned vaccination dates on Friday.

Ohio Department of Health officials said Trumbull County schools were not on the first week’s list of vaccine recipients because of a lack of vaccine available.

“The vaccine is incredibly scarce, and we simply don’t have enough vaccine for every teacher this week,” Melanie Amato, a department spokeswoman, said. “The governor has said the goal is for every teacher to have the opportunity to receive their first dose by March 1. Just as administration for other groups is a rolling process, vaccinating school personnel will be a rolling process.”

Gov. Mike DeWine has a goal to vaccinate the majority of teachers, administrators and and other school employees who have contact with students by March 1, so the majority of schools across the state will be able to reopen by that time.

The vast majority of school districts in Mahoning and Trumbull counties already are either on full, five-day-per-week class schedules in buildings or are participating in a hybrid schedule, where some students attend classes two or three days per week and take classes remotely on days they are not in buildings.

Schools in Mahoning County preregistered and are getting 100 percent of the 3,500 shots they requested, according to Traci Hostetler, superintendent of the Mahoning County Educational Service Center.

Local educational service centers are working with health departments and retail pharmacies to facilitate vaccinations that are convenient for school staff.

VIRUS CASES

Mahoning County schools totaled 20 new student cases of coronavirus during the week of Jan. 18 to 24, acccording to an Ohio Department of Health report.

There were 15 new student cases identified in Trumbull county schools.

Each county had six new staff cases.

Bristol schools, in Trumbull, had the highest number of new student cases between the two counties with six, followed by Austintown in Mahoning with five new student cases.

Austintown had three newly identified staff cases — the most of the two counties.

According the ODH website, nine Mahoning County districts had 215 cumulative student cases. There were 117 cumulative staff cases in Mahoning.

Trumbull County has posted 241 cumulative student and 198 cumulative staff cases.

Those identified with the virus were not infected necessarily within the schools or school districts. They simply were identified with the virus by the district when they make reports to the state.

People receiving vaccinations next week will include older residents, people with specific disabilities and school employees.

The state is planning to allocate roughly 100,000 vaccines for elderly Ohioans each week and 55,000 for school employees.