About half of states have started vaccinating teachers against the coronavirus, spurring and sighs of relief. But in the rest of the country, teachers are still waiting鈥攁nd for some, there is no end in sight.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that school staff be included in phase 1b of vaccination programs, alongside frontline workers and people age 75 and older, and after health-care workers and residents in long-term care facilities. But states ultimately make their own plans.
Several states, including Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas, have veered away from the CDC recommendations, instead basing vaccine eligibility on age and health conditions. And in some states that have begun vaccinating teachers, not every educator is eligible. At least five states and Washington, D.C., have prioritized K-12 teachers over early-childhood educators, many of whom have worked in person throughout much of the pandemic.
鈥淚t is super frustrating and a little bit demoralizing that we are working so hard in the middle of a global pandemic, and we鈥檙e not being taken care of,鈥� said Lisa Ellis, a high school journalism teacher in Blythewood, S.C., and the founder of the grassroots teachers鈥� group SCforED, which is . Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, recently announced that people aged 65 and older could skip the line ahead of teachers and other essential workers in phase 1b and begin scheduling their vaccine appointments.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to put teachers in a situation where their health is at risk, you need to vaccinate them to mitigate that concern,鈥� said Ellis, referring to McMaster鈥檚 push for five days a week of in-person school.
State policymakers say they have a limited supply of the vaccine, and they have to make hard choices about who gets it first. Some also point to research, including by the CDC, that show that in-person school can be done safely, especially with younger children. On Wednesday, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that vaccinating teachers is 鈥�not a prerequisite for safely reopening schools.鈥�
However, school leaders have said that vaccinations will help them reopen for in-person instruction much faster, since staffing shortages due to quarantine requirements have forced some districts to stay virtual. And many teachers say being vaccinated is key to making them feel more comfortable going back into school buildings.
鈥淵our basic feeling of being safe [at work] is non-existent this year鈥攖hat makes teaching so much more difficult,鈥� Ellis said, adding that a vaccine 鈥渨ould go a long way toward making teachers feel better, feel safer.鈥�
Samantha Brehm, a kindergarten teacher in Jericho, Vt., said she was 鈥渢ruly shocked鈥� her state didn鈥檛 include teachers in a priority group.
After vaccinating health-care workers, first responders such as ski patrol and police officers, and residents and staff at nursing homes, Vermont is now prioritizing distribution based on age and health risks. More than 90 percent of COVID-19 deaths in the state are people age 65 or older.
鈥淚 understand the state prioritizing [those at risk of dying]鈥攜ou have to鈥攂ut I thought 鈥� teachers would still be included in the next phase. I didn鈥檛 think it would be a complete shutout,鈥� Brehm said.
The state is simply trying to meet its 鈥渘umber one goal in this emergency: to save lives,鈥� Jason Maulucci, the press secretary for Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, wrote in an email. 鈥淓xpanding to a broader population based on jobs and sectors would distract us from this mission, and given the limited supply, would make little impact on stopping the spread of the virus to our most vulnerable.鈥�
To protect educators鈥� safety, Vermont has launched a surveillance testing program that gives every school employee the opportunity to be tested once a month. Still, only about 40 percent of school staff opt in to be tested, and Brehm said she believes fuller data would show the need to vaccinate school staff.
Brehm, who has been teaching in person since October, asking Scott to prioritize teachers and school staff, which now has more than 5,000 signatures. While she said her district has done a great job of providing personal protective equipment and implementing safety precautions, she would feel a lot more comfortable if she were vaccinated, especially given the new, more contagious strains of coronavirus that are circulating.
鈥淜ids deserve to be in school, teachers want to be in school, parents expect it, and the state of Vermont is doing everything possible to make that happen鈥攅xcept vaccinate us,鈥� she said.
Discrepancies over which educators get vaccinated
The uneven vaccination rollout has also led to questions about which types of educators are eligible. Are substitute teachers in the same group as full-time teachers? Where do private school teachers fall? In some places, these questions are being sorted out in real time on the ground.
Nicola Soares, the president of Kelly Education, which partners with school districts across the country to provide staffing, said she is worried that substitute teachers may fall through the cracks in states鈥� vaccination programs. While she hasn鈥檛 yet seen a state exclude substitute teachers from its prioritization plan, she said it may be up to district administrators to account for substitutes in the number of vaccines they request.
Jennifer Daniels, the associate director for public policy for Catholic education at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said she鈥檚 not aware of any states that have differentiated private and public school teachers in their vaccine plans. But there have been some places where there was some initial confusion about private school teachers鈥� eligibility.
For example, in Montgomery County, Md., health officials began vaccinating public school teachers鈥攁nd not their counterparts in private schools. While the Montgomery County school system has been remote since March, many private schools in the area have offered at least some in-person classes this school year.
Bethesda Beat, a Maryland local news site, because Johns Hopkins Medicine, which is partnering with the county to distribute vaccine doses, had to administer shots quickly and there was no central contact for reaching private school employees. But state health officials informed county health departments that private school educators cannot be excluded from the vaccine distribution, and Bethesda Beat reported that in the first week of February, private school teachers that are earmarked for educators.
Meanwhile, some official state policies draw a distinction between early-childhood educators and K-12 teachers. Kentucky, Oklahoma, Ohio, Utah, Wyoming, and Washington, D.C., , according to the advocacy group Child Care Aware of America. Yet many child-care centers have been open for much of the pandemic, and some never closed.
In Ohio, child-care providers feel 鈥渟lighted,鈥� said Jessica Robins, the director of early-childhood services at the Mandel Jewish Community Center near Cleveland. She has to move the staff of early-childhood centers and programs to the same priority level as K-12 teachers. So far, more than 21,000 people have added their names.
Robins鈥� center has been open for in-person classes since July. There have been a few closures during the school year due to COVID-19 cases among the staff, the students, and the parents.
The staff members are 鈥渒eeping their anxieties in check, but it does absolutely impact their psyche and their comfort level and how they鈥檙e approaching work each day,鈥� Robins said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e in a really vulnerable situation. They work really closely with young children who don鈥檛 social distance or don鈥檛 wear masks either appropriately or at all if they鈥檙e young.鈥�
Across the country, child-care workers are typically paid less and have fewer benefits than K-12 teachers. In 2017, the median pay for a child-care worker was $10.72 an hour. Unlike K-12 teachers, who are mostly white women, child-care providers are disproportionately Black and Latina women. Communities of color have been hit especially hard by the pandemic.
鈥淲hile there is a compelling case for this group and many groups to receive the vaccine as soon as possible, there is not enough vaccine supply right now to vaccinate all groups at this time,鈥� said Dan Tierney, the press secretary for Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, in an email. 鈥淰accine eligibility to date has reflected Gov. DeWine鈥檚 goals of saving as many lives as possible and returning K-12 students to in-person instruction.鈥�
Robins said she understands the need to get K-12 students back into classrooms. But she can鈥檛 help but feel like child-care workers are being penalized for having stayed open throughout most of the pandemic.
The prioritization plan has 鈥渢urned us from being these champions for being open to sort of chumps,鈥� she said.
Vaccines tied to school reopenings
In many places, teachers鈥� unions have said their members won鈥檛 feel comfortable returning to school buildings until they are fully vaccinated. In Chicago, teachers are on the brink of a possible strike as the district tries to bring elementary students back to classrooms, with the union saying teachers need to be vaccinated first.
But some unions鈥攊ncluding in California and Fairfax, Va.鈥攕ay that even after school staff are vaccinated, it still won鈥檛 be safe to return to in-person instruction until COVID-19 transmission in the community decreases.
Ray Domanico, the director of education policy at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, said teachers shouldn鈥檛 be prioritized for the vaccine unless it鈥檚 a 鈥渟olid guarantee鈥� that they will return to the classroom. In December, Domanico wrote a Washington Post opinion essay , and for instead prioritizing based on age and health. Other groups of workers are at higher risk for COVID-19, he wrote.
鈥淎 lot of folks who are essential workers 鈥� have been going to work since the beginning of this,鈥� he said in an interview. 鈥淭o the extent that teachers have not, it makes me question why they should go to the top of the list.鈥�
Even so, teachers in many places have been working in person through much of this school year and still can鈥檛 access the vaccine. Florida and Texas are among the states that require in-person instruction be available to students, yet teachers in both those states aren鈥檛 yet eligible for the vaccine.
Andrew Spar, the president of the Florida Education Association, said teachers in the Sunshine State were among the first in the country to return to classrooms but are still anxiously awaiting inoculation. Instead, the state is prioritizing people 65 and older.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been the educators who鈥檝e been on the front line of a lot of this work, so [for the state] to continue to say, 鈥榊ou need to risk your life, you need to risk your health and those of your families, but we鈥檙e not going do anything to assist you in return,鈥� 鈥� I think is a prime example of how this governor has a lack of respect for teachers,鈥� Spar said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has said that the COVID-19 vaccine by Johnson & Johnson, which is awaiting emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration, could be designated for school staff when it鈥檚 available, . The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires just one shot, and a global study found that it鈥檚 66 percent effective at protecting against moderate to severe COVID-19 infection鈥攁nd 85 percent effective at preventing the most serious COVID-19 symptoms. Meanwhile, the already-approved Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, which both require two shots, are about 95 percent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 infections.
Across the country, many educators say they feel they have been pushed back into the classroom before they are ready, so to not be prioritized for the vaccine is a tough pill to swallow.
鈥淭o not be considered an essential worker, 鈥� that鈥檚 hard,鈥� said Brehm, the Vermont teacher. 鈥淲e all give of ourselves immensely and create relationships and take care of people, and it鈥檚 just a time where we would like to know that we are taken care of, too.鈥�
