A group representing teachers in Texas is urging policymakers to give teachers a higher priority when it comes to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The guidelines issued so far by the Texas Department of State Health Services do not specifically list teachers as a specific group.
"Some of them may qualify to be in the 65 and older group especially if they have underlying conditions," said Rena Honea, President of Alliance AFT (American Federation of Teachers). "But for the others that don't qualify either way - they're just in line like everyone else."
The guidelines for receiving the vaccine in Texas call for a phased roll-out. Those in Group 1A include hospital workers who deal with patients, EMS crews and other first responders, and residents of long-term care facilities. Those in Group 1B include people 65 years of age and older along with people 16 years of age and older with at least one chronic medical condition.
Honea says teachers should be included in one of those early groups because of their work with students in-person in the classroom.
"Teachers are first responders. They are the ones that are in the buildings providing education for the kids the very best that that they can," she said. "Many are very, very disappointed that they were not included in this first round of vaccines. They go back to campus this Monday or Tuesday and they are risking the infection being spread."
She's also urging local school districts to switch to online-only classes for the start of the new semester until there's additional data on the number of new COVID-19 cases that were spread over the holiday break.
