Nearly 80 percent of school staff and child care workers received at least a single dose of Covid-19 vaccine, which was reinforced by President Joe Biden’s efforts to reopen schools through the pandemic.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reported on Tuesday that about 8 million teachers, school staff and other child care workers had received their first doses by the end of March. A federal effort to give such workers preference to vaccines has “borne fruit and paved the way” for a return to personal training, CDC director Rochelle Walensky said in a news release.
“CDC will build on the success of this program and continue to work with our partners to expand our vaccination efforts as we work to ensure confidence in COVID-19 vaccines,” Walensky said.
Biden could not tell state authorities who to prioritize in their vaccination programs, but his administration has made it clear that he wants to put school staff in the forefront of reopening schools. Less than half of the countries included teachers in their early vaccination, Vice President Kamala Harris told the NBC program “TODAY” in February.
“They need to be able to teach in a safe place and expand the minds and opportunities of our children,” Harris said at the time. “So teachers should be a priority with other frontline workers.”
A National Education Association survey released in February found that 70 percent of educators would ‘feel safer working in person’ if they were vaccinated.
Biden announced on Tuesday that all adults in the U.S. must be eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccine by April 19th. There would be no more confusing rules or restrictions, Biden said, urging Americans to be vigilant as the vaccinations begin.
The virus spreads because ‘we have too many people who see the end in sight’ and ‘think we are already at the finish line’, Biden said. “Let me be serious with you: we are not done.”
More than 168 million doses have been administered across the U.S., and about 63 million people have been fully vaccinated, according to CDC data Tuesday afternoon.
NBC News has created a tool called Plan Your Vaccine to provide information on the vaccination efforts of each Covid-19 state, as implementation spans across the country.
