D.C. is offering vaccines to child care workers and teachers after some accused the District of omitting them from early vaccines.

Marco Verch / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Individuals who work in person at licensed child care providers and independent and charter schools in D.C. will get access to coronavirus vaccine appointments every Monday beginning this week, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration announced Sunday.

Qualifying workers can make appointments through a One Medical portal. Links to the portal will be sent in an email from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education to eligible workers who preregistered, the city said in a news release. The administration did not specify how many appointments will be available, but it says vaccines remain extremely limited.

The city opened up appointments after child care workers and teachers at charters and independent schools accused the city of omitting them from early-stage vaccinations. The said the District gave higher priority to public school teachers, even though child care centers have been open for months.

Officials also announced a new effort to get more Black senior citizens vaccinated. Nearly three quarters of D.C. residents who have died from the coronavirus are Black, though Black residents make up less than half the city’s population. The “Faith in the Vaccine” program, an initiative led by D.C.’s health department, the Leadership Council for Healthy Communities, and the Black Coalition Against COVID, has organized two vaccine clinics at the Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church in Southeast this week. The city says 200 D.C. seniors will be able to receive a vaccine at the church after they preregister with D.C. Health.

Other groups eligible for vaccines in D.C. now include health care workers, first responders, residents of long-term and immediate care facilities, people experiencing homelessness, public school teachers, some D.C. government workers, inmates in the D.C. Jail, Department of Corrections employees, and residents ages 65 and older.