Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and president Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, agreed on Wednesday that teachers should be “absolutely” given priority among essential workers in the vaccination effort. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s guidelines state that vaccinating teachers provides an “extra layer of protection”, but that vaccinations for teachers will not be necessary for personal re-learning. Instead, the CDC’s guidelines for schools emphasized social distance and masking.
“You should try to vaccinate as many teachers as possible,” Fauci said. ‘But to make sense of not opening a school before every teacher has been vaccinated, I think it’s not workable, and probably most teachers would agree … You essentially do not want anyone in school before all the teachers are vaccinated. ”
Earlier this month, CDC director Rochelle Walensky reflected on Fauci’s statement that teachers do not need to be vaccinated to reopen safely. After Walensky’s remarks, before the CDC’s guidelines were announced, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Walensky was speaking “in her personal capacity.”
CNN’s John Berman told Sanders on Wednesday morning about the issue.
‘I do not understand why this is a difficult question to answer. It may be that you want every teacher to be vaccinated. That may be the answer, yes, teachers should, if they can, be vaccinated before going back to school, but that’s not necessary, ‘Berman said after Sanders did not answer his question directly.
“The president was clear, the vice president was clear and I think I was really clear now. This is the government’s position. The president and vice-president are of the opinion that teachers should be given preference for vaccinations, ”Sanders replied.