UPDATED: Framingham High Vaccination Rates Far Below 80%

Editor’s Note: Originally posted at 8:05 p.m. on Wednesday, last updated at 9:58 a.m. on Thursday.

FRAMINGHAM – School starts Wednesday, September 1 for Framingham High students, and they will start the year wearing masks, to protect from COVID-19.

Framingham Public Schools mandated earlier this month that all students and staff in grades K-12 will wear a mask, whether vaccinated against COVID-19 or not.

And this week, the Massachusetts Department of Education voted to mandate masks for all K-12 students in the Commonwealth to start the school year until October 1.

But come October 1, if a school has a vaccination percentage of 80% or higher, than the school district can decide if only non vaccinated students and staff must wear a mask at that school.

The decision is made school by school and not by district.

The COVID-19 vaccine is available for all students age 12 or higher, so theoretically every student at Framingham High could be administered the vaccine.

Superintendent of Schools Bob Tremblay gave an update on vaccine percentages for the 4 grades at Framingham High at tonight’s School Committee meeting,

The data however was from the beginning of August and not today, August 25.

For the senior class – Class of 2022 – 61% of the class is fully vaccinated and another 3% is partially vaccinated, meaning they have had one of two shots.

For the junior class, 57% is vaccinated and another 3% is partially vaccinated.

For the sophomore class, 56% is vaccinated and another 5% is partially vaccinated.

And for the Class of 2025 – the incoming freshmen – 53% is vaccinated and another 4% is particially vaccinated.

“We have a way to go to get to 80%,” Tremblay told the School Committee.

“Our data on vaccinated students ages 12 years of age and older comes from a comparison of COVID vaccine data from our district student electronic health system (maintained by our school nurses) and the Massachusetts Immunization Information System (MIIS: The intent of is to MIIS is to establish a complete, accurate, secure, real-time immunization record for residents of Massachusetts of all ages.),” explained FPS Director of Health & Wellness Judy Styer to SOURCE Thursday morning.

“I want to make it more difficult for people – very difficult” not to be vaccinated said District 9 School Committee member William Labarge.

Labarge said he does not want to share the same space with “unvaccinated” individuals just like he does not want to share the road with “people drunk or stoned out of their minds.”

Supt. Tremblay said the District is working with Nicole Doak of the Framingham Coronavirus Outreach group and Shivang Patel of MetroWest Pharmacy to hold another vaccine clinic at Harmony Grove Elementary School on September 11.

The public school district also announced earlier this month it would hold vaccine clinics at its middle and high schools in September.

Clinics will be held at Framingham High and Walsh Middle on Sept. 17.

Clinics will be held at Fuller and Cameron Middle on Sept. 24.

“We will update COVID vaccine rates on our website on a monthly basis. So, the next update for student COVID vaccine rates will likely be in late September,” said Styer.

“It is our hope that our rates improve significantly in the coming weeks as a result of the many opportunities to get the vaccine that are scheduled for our students and community,” said Styer.