BATON ROUGE - A local school district wants to distribute vaccines at their schools so its employees won't have have to leave work to get their shots.

"Hopefully this vaccine will get things back to normal as quick as possible," Brandy Blanchard with the Iberville Parish School District said.

Iberville schools are working on a plan to have the district's health care providers
come to every campus and provide COVID-19 vaccines for teachers and staff 70 years and older.

"Those faculty who wish to participate and be vaccinated at the time will receive the vaccination from them on their school sites," Blanchard said.

The district has more than 850 employees, and fewer than 100 qualify for the vaccine. But the school district plans to expand the school vaccine program, if it's approved, to eventually include all age groups and students.

"If we can get our faculty vaccinated, that will make it safer for our students as well as our teachers," Blanchard said.

Iberville schools already provided on-campus COVID screenings for students and teachers last year. It's hoping to hear back from health care providers next week about the proposed vaccine program.