CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- Chesterfield Schools posted on social media that it was "disappointed" to report it only received 750 of the first round of COVID-19 vaccine shots it requested.
Chesterfield Schools employs approximately 7,300 people.
Teachers and students are scheduled to return to in-person learning at the beginning of February.
That plan remains unchanged, a spokesperson said, as the decision to return to classrooms was made before Chesterfield learned a vaccine might even be available.
"The Chesterfield Health District will place another large order today, with hopes that a larger delivery will arrive next week," the Chesterfield Schools post continued. "In the meantime, we will work with state leaders and request that they clarify what they consider a realistic weekly delivery total to be, and then will design a flexible distribution plan accordingly."
Chesterfield Schools said it would ask both the Virginia Department of Health and Virginia Department of Education for help.
"This is not where any of us want to be. Relying on others to meet our needs is not a comfortable position for any of us," the post continued.
As Virginia moved into phase 1b of its vaccination plan, which included vaccinations for teachers, the supply of doses Virginia had to administer did not equal the demand.
"I think it’s fair to say that Phase 1b is going as fast as we can make it go in public health, but it’s not as fast as the demand clearly exists in our priority groups across Virginia," Ruth Morrison, policy director with the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts, said. "It does ask of all of us some ongoing patience."
She said health districts across the state were working to make vaccinations happen as soon as possible.
"We truly understand the urgency here. And as doses become available, we will be speeding them to access for these priority populations in the phased approach," said Morrison. "Since dosage is constrained right now -- we have not in Virginia gotten the dosage allotment that we've requested or requested over the past week -- it just means that we, all of us, are being asked to continue to show patience and we know that that is difficult."
This is a developing story.