Shot in the arm for state’s teachers

Pa. officials consider schools for J&J vaccine

Pennsylvania teachers may soon be able to receive COVID19 vaccinations.

The state’s pandemic task force has discussed making teachers eligible for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine when it becomes available, according to a spokeswoman for state House Republicans.

“There has been discussions among members of the task force, but the decision is ultimately up to the governor,” Tracy Stellino Polovick, a spokeswoman for the state House Republicans’ caucus, said Monday.

The governor’s office said it “hopes” to announce specific plans for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine rollout this week, but it would not confirm whether school staff would be able to receive inoculations.

Teachers and other school staff in Pennsylvania were placed in Phase 1B, or the second tier, of the state’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan, which is only partway through 1A, the first tier. It remains unclear when Phase 1B will start, as Phase 1A has been expanded to include smokers among others with underlying conditions.

Statewide education organizations and others have pressured the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf to prioritize vaccinations for teachers, but nothing has moved the governor and state health officials yet.

The state said it has been following recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which prioritize vaccinating health care workers and those most vulnerable to serious illness.

The wait for inoculations has created some tension between school administrations and communities that want schools to reopen for in- person

instruction and school staff members who do not want to return to their buildings before they are vaccinated.

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 can receive both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The new J&J vaccine requires only one dose.

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 district was set to work with Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC to get staff vaccinations, but the state’s expansion of Phase 1A coupled with the limited vaccine supply delayed that plan.

Rich Askey, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the largest teachers union in the commonwealth, said the union had been calling on policymakers to prioritize vaccinations for school staff members for weeks.

He said he was “encouraged by recent news reports suggesting that a plan is in the works to accomplish this goal.”

“The men and women who teach and serve our students have gone above and beyond for their students in a time of unprecedented challenge,” he said. “Our schools are essential, and vaccinating the dedicated people who make them work is critical to keeping everyone in them safe and healthy.”