The next stage of mass vaccination for COVID-19 is underway in the Joliet area.

This week, teachers and staff from Joliet Township High School 204 and surrounding districts are starting to get their first shots. The district worked with the Joliet Fire Department and AMITA Health, which runs Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, to set up a vaccination site at Joliet West High School.

On Monday, teachers and staff were already getting their first doses of vaccine.

Becca Brown, a counselor at Lincoln School in Joliet, said she was eager to come to the site for her shot. She said her school instituted remote learning throughout the pandemic, but after getting her shot, she feels more comfortable being able to do her job.

“I’m happy to get this process started,” Brown said. “We have kids coming into the building tomorrow, so it’s nice to have a little layer of protection before they do.”

For Brown and the dozens of others who got their first shot on Monday, a number of different entities had to work together for weeks to set up the vaccination site.

Joliet District 204 Superintendent Karla Guseman said when the Joliet Fire Department reached out to her a few weeks ago, she volunteered the field house at the Joliet West High School campus as a possible site to administer shots.

Students at JTHS have been attending school virtually for months and likely won’t be back in person until next month, so getting staff vaccinated is a big first step.

“It feels great,” Guseman said. “All of us want to have kids back in school.”

Joliet Fire Chief Greg Blaskey said his department was running the “logistical end” of the operation. About 15 members of his department volunteered their time to register and check in teachers and paramedics were there to actually give the shots.

“We’re trying to do a soft opening (this week) just to make sure we’re getting the process down,” he said.

While Blaskey said they plan on administering about 900 doses this week, his hope is that as supply of the vaccines ramps up, they can eventually inject between 500 and 1,000 doses every day.

For Monday morning, Blaskey said they had about 25 people signed up and the process went “much quicker than we anticipated.”

Dr. Jon Stotkamp, an emergency medicine physician with AMITA Health, said he’s been helping set up these smaller vaccination sites for teachers at local schools. He stressed the importance of vaccinating teachers to allow for other parts of the broader community to open up.

He hopes in the next several weeks to organize similar vaccination sites at other school districts for teachers and staff in Will County.

Guseman said besides teachers in District 204, some from Elwood, Laraway and Troy were also offered opportunities to get their shots.

As teachers get vaccinated and the spread of the novel coronavirus slows enough for restriction to be lifted, Guseman sounded encouraged about the prospect of students physically returning to the classroom. She said the district could allow for more in-person learning next month at the earliest.

While some parents are still hesitant, Guseman lauded her staff for the job they’ve done with remote learning, something she knows about from seeing her own child who is a senior in the district.

“I think that makes all us feel that there’s light at the end of the tunnel,” she said.

As of Sunday, more than 40,000 shots have been administered in Will County with more than 11,500 people fully vaccinated, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.