Long Beach officials Friday announced the education sector is eligible to sign up to receive the coronavirus vaccination beginning next week. The announcement comes days after the city opened up enrollment for the food sector and residents 65 and older.

To date, more than 29,500 vaccines have been administered at city-operated sites and medical facilities throughout Long Beach.

“Our vaccination program is running smoothly and efficiently and we are proud to be leading the way,” Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said in the announcement.

Officials encourage teachers who are Long Beach residents to check with their employer before registering for a vaccine through the city. The health department is working with Long Beach Unified School District, Long Beach City College and “others in the education sector.”

In a Jan. 21 email to students, instructors and staff, Cal State Long Beach officials indicated the university would be administering vaccinations itself in the coming months.

The Long Beach Unified School District has approximately 12,000 full- and part-time employees. In an email sent to employees Thursday, district officials said they’d prefer high-risk public-facing employees be vaccinated first. But spokesman Chris Eftychiou said the district is not overseeing the employee vaccination enrollment or monitoring any form of prioritization.

Long Beach City College has about 2,000 employees and has been tracking what leaders consider “essential personnel” since the onset of the pandemic.

“They are being targeted first,” interim Superintendent-President Lou Anne Bynum said, adding that these employees were sent vaccination information ahead of others.

While Bynum said the college would like essential personnel—those who must be on campus for classes and other work—to be vaccinated first, she admitted that it is impossible for the college to control who signs up and in what order, especially now that the public announcement has been made.

Vaccination appointment slots through the city’s vaccine portal, VaxLB, are based on the number of doses the city receives for a given week.

Long Beach officials have no control over how many doses the city receives each week, as the limited supply is distributed by the state. Long Beach allocations per week have ranged from 100 to 11,600 doses. For the week of Jan. 25, the city received 2,100 doses.

While the administration of first doses continues, city officials are preparing for the necessary follow-up inoculation of the two-dose regimen. As doses become available, health officials will contact individuals, notifying them to schedule a second appointment.

While it is recommended that the second dose be administered within one month of the first, the effectiveness of the regimen is not impacted if the interval is longer, according to the city announcement.

The city is currently in Phase 1B of its vaccine rollout plan, which includes an estimated 90,000 residents. Officials stated no further groups would be added to the eligibility list at this time but gave no indication as to how long that would last.

“We encourage everyone to sign up for VaxLB notifications for the most up to date information about vaccination appointments,” Health Department Director Kelly Colopy said in a statement.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with comments and information related to Long Beach City College.

Brandon Richardson is a reporter and photojournalist for the Long Beach Post and Long Beach Business Journal.