FCPS launches Covid vaccine program for kids at the first school to pioneer the polio vaccine

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy and First Lady Jill Biden visit the Fairfax County school where the first kids got the polio vaccine in 1954. [Donnie Biggs/FCPS]

Fairfax County Public Schools kicked off the national rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11 Nov. 8, when First Lady Jill Biden visited the school where the first polio vaccine was administered in 1954.

Biden, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, and FCPS officials toured the vaccination clinic at Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean where the first lady handed out “superstar” stickers to newly vaccinated students. 

Surrounded by a group of children who had just received their first dose, Biden urged all parents to follow in the footsteps of the polio pioneers and have their children vaccinated as soon as possible.

“This vaccine is the best way to protest your children against COVID-19. It’s been thoroughly reviewed and rigorously tested, it’s free and it’s available for every child aged 5 and up,” Biden told an audience of parents and their newly vaccinated children.

Jill Biden hands out stickers to vaccinated students. [Donnie Biggs/FCPS]

FCPS is rolling out vaccinations for young children through its VaxUP partnership with the Fairfax County Health Department, Inova, and the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

FCPS will soon host school-based vaccination clinics during evenings, weekends, and the school day. The school system has partnered with a private vendor to establish in-school clinics where students can be vaccinated with parent or guardian permission and with or without a parent or guardian present. Check for updates here. 

Inova Hospital is holding weekend pediatric vaccination clinics at the Inova Center for Personalized Health and Inova Cares Clinic for underserved communities. Local pediatricians will receive more than 3,900 vaccines per week.

Search for a vaccination appointment here. 

Related story: Covid vaccine available for children age 5-11

Vaccinating young children is expected to hasten an end to the Covid pandemic, which has claimed a total of 5 million lives worldwide, including 750,000 Americans and more than 1,200 Fairfax County residents.   

Franklin Sherman Elementary School made history on April 26, 1954, when a group of FCPS parents made the decision to have their children be part of the Polio Pioneer campaign that kicked off nationwide polio vaccine field trials, FCPS reports. 

The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis initially tapped other surrounding counties to participate in the nationwide trial, but as the start date approached, other school systems delayed the program in the face of parent opposition.  

Dr. Richard Mulvaney of Fairfax administered the first doses of the Salk vaccine field trials to a group of 114 Franklin Sherman students, most of whom were in second grade. Those students, who started the nation on the path to eradicate polio, came to be known as Polio Pioneers.

One of those students was Gail Adams, who remembers a car pulling up to transport her and two classmates to visit a doctor, FCPS reports. A boy in front of her fainted, but she held strong and didn’t cry, as she felt a needle delivering a field trial dose of the Salk polio vaccine. Afterward, the kids were treated to an ice cream sundae.

Gail Adams Batt with a picture of her second-grade class. [FCPS]

“I was really honored that I was picked to be part of this group,” Gail Adams Batt, now 74, says. “I knew what polio was and we children were terrified of it. There was a boy who sat next to me at school, and one day he wasn’t there. We heard he got polio and we’d walk by his house and wonder.”

“Widespread vaccination is key to keeping students learning in-person and preventing school or division closures and keeping our school staff and students safe,” said Superintendent Scott Brabrand at Franklin Sherman. “We are proud to be leading the way in the vaccination rollout for children ages 5-11, just as we did with the polio vaccine in 1954.”