• Pa. teachers eligiblefor Johnson & Johnson vaccine,

Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday said Pennsylvania teachers will be eligible for Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available, a move that could help to fully reopen schools statewide.

A formal announcement was expected Wednesday.

“We have an unusual opportunity with [Johnson & Johnson] because it’s a one-dose vaccine, not a two dose like the Moderna and Pfizer,” Mr. Wolf said during a news conference. “There’s some really important front-line workers who I think — and I think the [state COVID19] task force believes on a bipartisan basis — should be included in that, like teachers and not too far down the road child care workers and police and firefighters, grocery store workers and bus drivers.”

Teachers and other school staff members have been in Phase 1B, or second tier, of the state’s vaccine rollout since it began. The state remains in Phase 1A, the first tier, and it is unclear when 1B vaccinations will begin.

Johnson & Johnson vaccines are expected to become available in parts of the country this week.

The unavailability of vaccine for teachers has been among the barriers some schools have faced while trying to resume inperson instruction during the 2020-21 school year.

The wait has caused tension in some districts between school communities that want to hold in-person instruction and teacher unions that recommend school staff members receive inoculations before returning to their buildings.

The executive committee of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, which represents teachers and other school staff in the Pittsburgh Public Schools, unanimously adopted a resolution in January asking the district to delay the start of in-person learning until school staff could receive both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The district, which has been in a remote model since March 2020, plans to reopen to some students for in-person instruction in April.

The school system was set to work with UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh to get its staff vaccinated months ago — a plan that fell apart because of the state’s expansion of Phase 1A coupled with the limited vaccine supply — but a district spokeswoman said Tuesday that adjustments would have to be made to that plan.

Nina Esposito-Visgitis, president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, said she believed it was possible for all city school staff members to receive the vaccine before students return to the classroom.

The inoculations, she said, are especially important for teachers working in older buildings that might not have up-todate ventilation systems or

space to accommodate social distancing.

“People want to go back to school, but we want to go back safely,” she said.

Most schools in Allegheny County have reopened for at least some in-person instruction, but they must follow strict health and safety guidelines from federal, state and local governments, including social distancing and mask wearing. Schools across the region have had to close dozens of times because of virus cases and exposures.

The governor said the state’s COVID-19 task force had discussed the possibility that schools must open for full in-person instruction for teachers to become eligible for the vaccine. More details will become available Wednesday, he said.

Statewide education organizations and others pressured the Wolf administration for weeks to prioritize vaccinations for teachers, but the state said it had been following recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to focus on vaccinating health care workers and those most vulnerable to serious illness.

Some state lawmakers hailed the decision as a positive step toward reopening schools.

“This is certainly good news for our teachers and school staff, many of whom have had to be working in classrooms for some time and in close proximity to our young people and other staffers,” said state Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Greene County.

State Rep. Emily Kinkead, D-Allegheny County, noted the importance of vaccines as schools work to reopen safely.

“The benefits of in-person education for our children cannot be replaced. The vital roles of our teachers, administrators and school staff cannot be overstated,” Ms. Kinkead said. “It makes complete sense to ensure that they are among the first to be protected from this deadly virus and thus to allow our students to return to in-person learning in the safest way possible — for our students, for our school staff and for their families.”