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Around 200 more Troup County School System employees will be getting vaccinated on Friday, according to Assistant Superintendent Chip Medders.

Employees on Friday will be receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which only requires one shot. 

Previously, on March 15, approximately 650 TCSS employees received their first dose of the Moderna vaccine, meaning around 850 employees will have been totally vaccinated near the end of the month. 

Employees who received their first dose in March will receive the second dose on April 23. 

Medders said some employees have also received vaccines other ways, including being part of the first group of eligible Georgians. He said others have traveled to Alabama to receive vaccinations, so the total number of vaccinated employees is actually higher. By the end of the month, he thinks a significant portion of TCSS staff members will have been vaccinated. 

“I would feel comfortable that we are in that 65 to 70% range have been vaccinated after April 23,” Medders said.

That’s a significant number, considering guidelines say that after getting fully vaccinated employees will no longer have to quarantine due to contact tracing, assuming they aren’t symptomatic. 

The Tuesday COVID-19 dashboard update from TCSS showed that there were two students and two employees that currently had a positive case of COVID-19. Fifteen students and one employee were listed as in quarantine.

“We’re nearing the end of the school year, and I think we’re all proud of all the hard work we’ve done as a school system and as a community, and it’s amazing that we’re almost here, eight weeks away,” Medders said.