As of Thursday, all teachers and educators in Windsor-Essex can get vaccinated against COVID-19.
As part of the province's vaccine roll out plan, the first group of essential workers can book an appointment — this group includes educators, school bus drivers and administrative and custodial staff.
Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation District 9 President Erin Roy says this is great news, but well overdue.
She says getting vaccinated is priority one for her members.
"It's one of the number one things that I hear from my members right now. When can I get my vaccine? So I just encourage everyone to get on the wait list so they can get it as quickly as possible. Everyone is kind of looking toward September and knowing that they have to have two doses of the vaccine they want to make sure they get in as quickly as possible."
Roy says it's great to finally see some light at the end tunnel.
"We need a little bit of hope. This has been a really difficult school year. So if we can get all of the workers vaccinated, the next stage would be what are we doing for students? Because, as of right now, we know that they're not in the queue, but we're all cautiously optimistic, but good news that everyone is going to be eligible for vaccines as long as they're here."
She says she would have liked to see teachers taken care of earlier.
"They should have been prioritized a long time ago. It does seem to be that Canada is getting more and more vaccine availability which is good. With the nicer weather, I think this is going to make people feel good. A blanket statement to say everyone is going to be eligible is good news."
Vaccines can be booked on the local health unit's website or by calling 227-773-2200.