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Raleigh, North Carolina – With pressure to reopen schools across North Carolina, teachers are being given a higher priority to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Governor Roy Cooper said on Wednesday that all staff at K-12 school and anyone working in child care will be eligible for vaccinations starting Feb. 24. All other “essential” frontline workers, such as police, firefighters and grocers, will have to wait until March 10 to start getting vaccinated.
The state has administered nearly 1.5 million shots in the past two months, which means about 10.6% of state residents have received at least one dose of the two-dose regimen. About 3.5 percent of the state is fully vaccinated.
The subdivision of Group 3 in the state’s immunization priority list is necessary, the governor said, to balance the limited supply of vaccines with the large number of frontline workers in the state.
North Carolina only receives 150,000 doses of the vaccine each week from the federal government, and the state has approximately 240,000 employees in public schools.
Previously, state officials said they did not intend to split Group 3 into smaller units and prioritize some professions over others. But Cooper said putting teachers at the forefront of Group 3 was just pragmatic.
“There were concerns about all of these essential frontline workers in a large group, in Group 3, all of a sudden crashing into the system, that it would be problematic,” he said. “Starting with a smaller number of core group 3 workers helps providers streamline vaccine distribution.
Group 3 could be further subdivided in the coming weeks, depending on the flow of vaccines in the state, the governor said.
“This category of essential workers is much more complicated because a lot of people have very important front-line jobs,” he said. “The [state’s] the health care team will examine … if they can open all [Group 3] categories or if they need to move on to another subpart. “
Dr Mandy Cohen, secretary of the State Department of Health and Human Services, said the prospect of a third vaccine approved in the coming weeks could allow most of Group 3 to be eligible at the same time without separating the other professions separately.
“We really have to look at the supply to meet the demand that is there,” Cohen said.
Micki McCarthy, director of Weaver Street Market in Raleigh, said her staff were delighted to know they will soon be eligible for the vaccination.
“That’s all the buzz,” McCarthy said with a laugh. “It will give us the peace of mind of knowing that we are serving our community every day without the fear of contacting the virus ourselves.”
Cooper and Cohen have repeatedly pointed out that research has shown schools can safely reopen if masks and other safety protocols are followed. Thus, vaccination of teachers and other school staff is not a prerequisite for reopening, they said.
“Schools can get students back to class safely now, and that’s what I want them to do,” Cooper said.
But teachers have pushed back in recent days, saying they don’t want to put themselves and their families at risk of contracting COVID-19.
“Yes, the data shows transmission is low in schools, but you can still transmit in schools,” said Michelle Burton, elementary school librarian and president of the Durham Educators Association.
Burton’s group was one of many educational organizations pushing for a higher priority of immunization for school staff.
Burton lives with her elderly father, who has diabetes, and she said she worried she could infect him. Getting the vaccine will add protection for him and for her, she said.
She said those who think teachers just don’t want to go back to school are wrong.
“We want to teach our students. We want to be with them. We want to see their faces, ”she said. “But the point is, we just want to make sure we’re safe, and we want to protect the safety of our students and protect the safety of our colleagues we work with every day.”
The educators’ immunization schedule announcement, followed by other frontline workers, gives counties and healthcare providers two extra weeks to immunize as many people in group 1 (healthcare workers) and group 2 (people aged 65 and over) as possible before the next one. the group is starting, the governor said.
Vaccinating people 65 years of age or older is “critical,” he said, noting that this age group accounts for more than 80 percent of virus-related deaths in North Carolina.
The two-week notice also gives school districts and employers time to develop immunization plans. Cohen said providers can go to a school or workplace to administer vaccines, or they can designate a specific day of the week when only educators or other frontline workers can receive vaccinations. The state’s immunization tracking system will soon allow employers to upload employee information for pre-registration, she said.
Cohen warned, however, that the eligibility dates of February 24 and March 10 do not necessarily mean people will start getting vaccinated at that time. Some counties have long waiting lists of Group 1 or Group 2 people still waiting for their vaccines – Wake County’s list has over 80,000 people, for example – so teachers and other front-line workers will have to wait. their turn, she said.
“Just being thought about and being a priority is just the first step, the right step to take,” said Burton.
Laura Leslie, WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief, and WRAL presenter / reporter Adam Owens, contributed to this report.
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