Prioritizing teachers in the distribution of Covid vaccines will continue to be a challenge until more doses are available, Andy Slavitt, a senior adviser to the White House Covid-19 response team, said Wednesday.
President Joe Biden has made the reopening of schools across the country for face-to-face instruction one of his top priorities.
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines that say there is no need to vaccinate teachers to safely reopen schools, but states should give teachers priority access to Covid vaccines.
Slavitt said governors have “difficult decisions” to make in juggling the distribution of vaccines to groups, including seniors, nursing home workers and teachers.
“We try to give them the best possible support with science, but until the shortage is resolved, we will still have those challenges,” Slavitt told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith”.
The question of whether teachers should be vaccinated before returning to the classroom has been a turning point in the debate over the reopening of face-to-face instruction.
Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday morning on Today Show that “teachers should be a priority.”
During a briefing Wednesday, White House Covid-19 chief coordinator Jeff Zients said that while Biden and Harris believe teachers and other front-line workers should be at the helm of the line for receiving vaccines, both agree with the CDC that vaccinating teachers is “not a requirement to reopen schools.”
CDC guidelines also advise schools to align reopening plans with the severity of the outbreak in their communities. The agency also recommends that schools maintain “essentials” for face-to-face learning, including those wearing masks, physical distancing, and spread control in the surrounding area.
“If that were easy, it would be done,” Slavitt told CNBC. “We’re focused on how we get kids and teachers back in school, not if we have to, but how. And that’s what I think the CDC plan established.”