Vax downgrade vexes teachers
Teachers unions in Massachusetts are pushing back on the state’s updated vaccine administration plan, saying it delays vaccinations for educators, slowing down the safe return to in-person learning.
“The Baker administration must do a better job of balancing the needs of people at risk because of age and other factors with recognizing that people working with students need to be vaccinated,” said Massachusetts Teachers Association President Merrie Najimy in a statement.
“It’s like the Hunger Games,” Najimy said. “They are forcing communities to compete with one another for a scarce resource rather than establishing a fair system with clear rules.”
“We had not opposed the original prioritization list because it had a rational basis and promised to deliver vaccines to educators in February. Now, those hopes may be dashed,” Najimy said.
On Monday, Gov. Charlie Baker announced changes in prioritization for Phase 2 eligibility which bumped early education and K-12 workers down on the list. The unions say it will delay vaccination for educators by several weeks or more.
“The governor keeps pushing schools to reopen for in-person learning more quickly, regardless of the risks to staff and students, yet he has just made it much harder to do that safely,” said Beth Kontos, president of American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts.
Najimy said MTA members, families and students feel like “pawns in a chess game — a game whose rules keep changing.”
Jessica Tang, president of the Boston Teachers Union, noted that many educators are currently working in person and in close contact with students.
She said they need to be vaccinated as soon as possible, “for the sake of your colleagues, students, and the family members those children could infect, as well as the larger community.”
The union leaders also said the state should move higher education faculty and staff and municipal librarians higher from Phase 3 into Phase 2.
Colleen Quinn, spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Education said in a statement that the union claims are “false and misleading,” saying teachers are the first group of workers in the state to get a vaccine after first responders and health care workers.
Also in the group of “other workers” with teachers are Uber and Lyft drivers, grocery store and restaurant workers among others.
“The Administration is calling on these union leaders to be honest partners in the effort to educate children in classrooms. Instead, these leaders attack good faith efforts to go back to school despite overwhelming evidence that it is safe to do so,” said Quinn.