Letetsia A. Fox, president of the Los Angeles 500 Chapter of the California School Employees Association, receives the first vaccine against COVID-19 Modern from registered nurse Sosse Bedrossian, director of nursing services at LAUSD.
Al Seib | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged states to prioritize the vaccination of teachers and school staff against Covid-19, with the goal of administering at least one shot at all educators and staff members across the country by the end of March. .
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has previously urged states to prioritize teacher vaccination, but some public health experts criticized the agency for not making vaccination a prerequisite for reopening schools. K-12.
“Let me be clear, we can reopen schools if the right steps are taken even before employees are vaccinated,” Biden said Tuesday at the White House. “But over and over again we’ve heard of educators and parents who have concerns about it.”
To help accelerate the safe reopening of schools, Biden said that “we treat face-to-face learning as the essential service that it is and that means getting the essential workers, who provide this service, the educators, the school staff , childcare workers, get them vaccinated. ”
“My challenge for all states, territories and the District of Columbia is this: we want all educators, school staff and daycare workers to receive at least one shot by the end of March,” added.
Biden said he will use the federal pharmacy partnership, which was established with retail pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens to expand access to Covid-19 vaccines, to make the shots available to pre-K teachers. 12 and school staff. This would provide workers with the opportunity to receive the vaccine even in states where they do not meet local eligibility requirements.
His statement is the strongest call and the most ambitious timeline presented by the federal government for states to give priority to educators and school staff, although it no longer has a mandate to do so. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, hailed the president’s statements as a concrete step toward reopening schools for face-to-face learning.
“What a great relief to have a president who is fulfilling this moment of crisis,” Weingarten said in a statement. “Vaccinations are a key ingredient for the safe reopening of schools, and it is the administration that takes the necessary steps to increase educators’ vaccines, which is great news for anyone who wants to learn in school. “.
As doses of Covid-19 vaccines remain low, states ration them to prioritized groups, primarily essential front-line workers, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems. While the CDC sets recommendations on which groups should receive the vaccine first, states ultimately make their own decisions.
The CDC has recommended that teachers be vaccinated in the Phase 1b group, which includes everyone 75 years of age or older, as well as “essential front-line workers.” But some states have excluded teachers and school staff from the definition of front-line essential workers.
While the nation’s top health agency recommends states prioritize vaccinated teachers, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has said non-vaccinated teachers should not be an obstacle to reopening vaccination. the schools. He said that if schools follow the public health precautions set by the CDC, teachers and staff can safely return to face-to-face learning.
However, based on the parameters set by CDC, about 90% of the country’s schools are in counties with substantial levels of diffusion, where the CDC says it is not certain that schools will reopen completely by to face-to-face learning.