Rochelle Walensky, who has been named director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks after U.S. President-elect Joe Biden announced his team handling the Covid-19 pandemic at The Queen in Wilmington, Delaware. on December 8th. , 2020.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
Teachers do not need to be vaccinated against Covid-19 before schools can safely reopen, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday.
“There is growing evidence to suggest that schools can reopen safely and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers should be vaccinated,” CDC director Rochelle Walensky told reporters during a press conference. White House on Covid-19.
“Vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for reopening schools safely,” he added.
The CDC Advisory Committee on CDC Immunization Practices voted to put “essential front-line workers,” including teachers, in the next row to receive a Covid-19 vaccine after giving priority to health workers and residents of long-term care facilities. However, most teachers may take a while to fire up while U.S. officials work to catch up on vaccinations.
However, U.S. school systems have been pressured to reopen after moving to remote learning last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 26.4 million Americans. and has died at least 447,077 in just over a year.
Some parents have been forced to stay home to look after their children instead of going to work. Meanwhile, teachers and other teachers have expressed concern about returning to school and may put their health at risk.
A CDC study published late last month found little evidence of the virus spreading in U.S. and overseas schools when precautions were taken, such as wearing masks, socially distancing oneself, and ventilating rooms.
The Biden administration has launched a Covid rescue plan that includes supplying schools and universities with $ 170 billion to reopen. The money would be used in part to increase testing. The administration has said testing is a “critical” strategy to control the spread of the virus, but additional testing is not yet widely available and the U.S. does not yet use those it has effectively.
Walensky has said earlier that schools should be the first to open and the last to close in the pandemic.
Jeff Zients, President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 tsar, said Wednesday that Biden was “very clear” that he wants schools to “reopen and stay open.”
“This means all schools have the equipment and resources to open safely,” he said during the press conference, urging Congress to “do its part” in approving Biden’s Covid rescue plan. “Not just private schools or schools in rich areas, but all schools.”