Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Wednesday said that vaccinating teachers “is not a prerequisite for safe reopening of schools,” taking a stance on a point of contention between teachers unions and school districts that has become a roadblock to returning students to in-person learning.
“Yes [the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] has put teachers in the 1B category, the category of essential workers,” she said during a White House COVID response team briefing. “But, I also want to be clear that there’s increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that that safe opening does not suggest that teachers should need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely.”
Walensky’s comments came in response to a question regarding vaccine prioritization and if the federal government would work more closely with states to increase vaccine supply to teachers so that schools can reopen in the fall.
She said that states would be able to continue to decide how to distribute vaccines as states’ plans “have to be in sync with how they’re able to titrate” their supply versus the number of people who are eligible to receive the vaccine.
“While we are implementing the criteria of the advisory committee and of the state and local guidances to get vaccination across these eligible communities, I would also say that safely opening schools is not — that vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for safe reopening of schools,” she said.
In an article published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, three doctors affiliated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encouraged schools nationwide to re-open, noting that “there has been little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission.”
A study published on Tuesday, which is cited in the article, found that in “schools in rural Wisconsin with high mask adherence (4876 students and 654 staff), COVID-19 incidence was lower in schools than in the community.”
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain last week defended teachers unions’ refusals to return to in-person learning despite scientific evidence suggesting that little transmission takes place in classrooms.
Biden expressed support for the Chicago Teachers Union in its fight against reopening schools for in-person learning, saying, “I know they want to work.”
“They just want to work in a safe environment, and as safe as we can rationally make it, and we can do that,” Biden said.
Biden said widespread testing and functioning ventilation systems are key to reopening schools.
In an appearance on CNN, Klain advocated for President Biden’s plan for reopening schools in 100 days and backed teachers’ objections to teaching in-person immediately, saying schools “haven’t made the investments to keep the students safe.”
Teachers in Chicago have ignored a number of reopening dates, choosing instead to defy the school district and work remotely. The district and the teachers union agreed to a a two-day “cooling off period” on Monday after days of tense negotiation.
The union is advocating for members with medically vulnerable relatives at home to receive accommodations for remote work and for teachers to only be required to return to in-person instruction upon receiving a vaccination. It is also pushing for increased testing of staff and students as well as a public health metric that would determine when schools should reopen or close.