Teachers land near end of vax line
Many schools plan for spring reopening
Districts across Massachusetts this week laid out plans for students to return to the classroom this spring, but teachers are among those last in line for vaccines with the potential for them to wait even longer after the CDC this week bumped people 65 and older to the top of the priority list.
Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday sidestepped a Herald reporter’s question about plans to move teachers to the front of the line for vaccinations, saying “school is one of the safest places where adults and kids can be.”
According to the state distribution plan, early education and K-12 workers are listed eighth out of 10 priority groups, coming just after people with two or more comorbidities and those age 75 and up.
The 75 and older age group was a new change following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that puts an additional 170,000 Massachusetts residents in front of teachers and other school workers such as custodians or office staff.
Now, in a push to get more vaccines into arms sooner, the Trump administration on Tuesday issued new guidelines that moved anyone 65 or older to the top of the priority list.
States have been given broad authority to distribute vaccines on their own terms and Baker said the state’s vaccine advisory group would “turf” that idea before any changes are implemented.
If the state aligns with the latest CDC update, as many as 477,000 65- to 74-year-olds could jump the line, based on Census population data. It would also put them second to last ahead of the general public.
Dr. Marc Lipsitch, epidemiology professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and member of the state’s COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group, said the current positioning for teachers is “appropriate.”
“If all goes well … that should be in time for next school year. I think it’s hard to imagine getting a large amount of vaccine uptake in time to rescue much of this school year even if teachers were put at the very top,” Lipsitch said during a Tuesday virtual briefing.
Most students won’t be able to get a coronavirus vaccine, as Pfizer’s isn’t approved in children under 16 and Moderna’s vaccine can only be used people 18 and older, although both companies are currently running trials to test the vaccine in younger kids.
High schoolers in the appropriate age group will have to wait to be vaccinated along with the general population, which is set to take place sometime between April and June.
Teachers can expect the get their shots sometime between February and April.
Massachusetts Teachers Association, Boston Teachers Union and American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts did not offer comment.