Vice President Kamala Harris in a Wednesday morning interview repeatedly evaded questions about the disease control and prevention centers over the reopening of schools under the Biden government.
In the NBC program “Today”, Harris constantly pressed for the guidance of the CDC, which was announced last week on the phase reopening of schools, specifically to the point that teachers do not need to be vaccinated.
Asked if it was a mistake that the guidelines would keep 90 percent of schools closed for personal learning, Harris would just say that it is the government’s priority to open schools’ doors.
“In the last four weeks, schools are opening, every week more schools are opening,” the vice president told host Savannah Guthrie. ‘And it’s because we supplement what needs to happen around the vaccinations in countries, but also because we see progress, people wear masks when they are vaccinated, if they take social distance, we see progress there. ”
‘But we all want the schools to reopen, Savannah, everyone who has children in our lives. They want to go back to school, we want them to go back to school, teachers want to teach. ”
Furthermore, Harris argued that the guidelines do not have to be followed as if they were legally binding.
“What the CDC, which they recommended, is exactly this: recommendations on how to reopen safely when it is closed, how to stay open when it is opened.
‘Some recommendations include what should happen again around social distance, hand washing, wearing a mask. “But the point is, we all want our children to get back to school as quickly and as safely as possible,” Harris said.
Harris backed off from Guthrie about the shifting messages across schools from the administration, from changing timelines to concerns about how many days a week students could return.
The VP defended the government in response to this, saying: ‘Our goal is for so many K-8 schools to reopen within the first 100 days. Our goal is that it will be five days a week, so we need to work to achieve that goal. But our goal is the goal of parents, I mean, here’s the thing, Savannah, I do not have to tell you. The problem here is not just about statistics, it’s about our children, it’s about their parents. It is about our children missing essential, critical days in their educational development every day. ”
Harris admitted the damage to children who missed their formative years in the classroom, but remained vague about how the government would ensure mitigation.
‘We know we’ve been working on it for years, and that a child at the end of third grade literally falls. Every day in a child’s life is therefore very long, and therefore we must collectively do everything in our power to reopen our schools as quickly as possible and as safely as possible. ”
When asked about the vigilance of some teachers to return to work without taking a COVID vaccine, which some teachers’ unions have used to refuse to return to personal learning, Harris seems to be undermining the CDC statement , and insists that teachers should be a priority for vaccination.
‘Teachers must be a priority [to receive the vaccine] along with other front-line workers, ”Harris said twice before presenting an anecdote about a favorite teacher of hers.
“And we’re going to make them one,” she added, declining to say whether teachers should feel safe returning to personal tutoring, as recommended by the CDC.
Suppressed by Guthrie or unvaccinated teachers should return safely to the classroom, Harris replies, ‘Well, I think we need to decide if we can put in place safe measures. That’s why it’s so important that we succeed in the US rescue plan. The American rescue plan, which the president and I proposed, is a plan to get our schools open again. ”
When Guthrie asked Harris to simply address the issue of teachers being wary of exposure if they have not yet been vaccinated, the vice president reiterated her assertion that the government believes teachers should be a priority. ‘
Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading expert on infectious diseases, said at the weekend that it would be “optimal” but not essential that all teachers be vaccinated before returning to the classroom, which is a similar statement from Biden’s new CDC director gives.
Biden, a friend of the teachers’ unions, refrained from using his influence to suppress disunity of groups in some of the country’s largest cities.
Biden, who was pressed during his CNN City Hall Tuesday night about school closures, said press secretary Jen Psaki was wrong when she said his plan would only see half of the kids in the classroom just one day a week.
The commander-in-chief said he wanted a full reopening of the school by the first 100 days in office, and predicted that there would even be districts where they would institute a full summer school semester.
“It’s not true. There was an error in communication,” Biden told CNN anchor Anderson Cooper when asked about the scaled-down goal of one day a week.
Biden said he would be “close” to achieving his goal of reopening the majority of K-8 schools by the end of April.
“We had a significant percentage that they could be open,” he said.
“I think they’re probably going to push all summer to open up to continue as if it’s another semester,” he continues. “I think a lot of them will do five days a week, and the goal is five days a week.”