Wake teachers have to wait for COVID vaccinations. It could be ‘weeks to months.’
It could be “weeks to months” before Wake County teachers and other school employees receive COVID-19 vaccinations, county health officials warned Tuesday.
One of the reasons the Wake County school system has suspended in-person instruction through at least mid-February is to see when they’ll be able to get large numbers of school employees vaccinated for the coronavirus. Wake County school board members pressed health officials Tuesday for a timetable on vaccination of school employees.
“It’s hard to predict an exact date, but I’d say weeks to months,” Dr. Jason Wittes, Wake County’s pharmacy director, told the board. “It all depends on how many doses the county as a whole receives.”
Wittes said COVID supplies are still very limited and the county has a large number of people who have higher priority than teachers to vaccinate first.
“Weeks to months is the comfortable answer, which is not definitive, which is unfortunate,” Wittes said.
Who should get vaccinated first?
The scarcity of available COVID doses has led to tension over who should get vaccinated first.
Last week, citing updated federal guidelines, North Carolina updated its vaccine plan to include people ages 65 to 74 to the groups who are eligible to get to a shot now. Previously, that group of older adults was limited to ages 75 and up.
The state change pushed frontline essential workers, which include people such as school employees, further down the vaccination list. They’re now in Group 3 behind (Group 1) healthcare workers, long-term care staff and residents and (Group 2) older adults. There are 180,000 eligible people in groups 1 and 2 in Wake County.
Wake County’s COVID-19 vaccination signup website briefly crashed Tuesday morning, the News & Observer reported.
County health officials said they’re prioritizing health care workers and people who are at most risk of dying from COVID.
“People who are 65 and older are still disproportionately dying from COVID-19 than those who are younger,” Wittes said.
Wake NCAE has urged the school board not to resume in-person instruction until either school employees are vaccinated for COVID-19 or the county’s two-week rolling average for positive cases drops below 5%. The last reported daily rate for Wake was 9.5%.
School board members said they want to do anything they can to help speed up vaccination in the county. In the meantime, Superintendent Cathy Moore said they’ve notified employees who are ages 65 and older they’re eligible to get a shot.
“We certainly look forward to our teachers getting in there very soon,” said school board chairman Keith Sutton.
Science of reopening debated
The school board received an update Tuesday from the ABC Science Collaborative, a group formed by Duke University that is advising school districts on how to deal with the virus.
Supporters of in-person instruction have pointed to a recently published ABC Science Collaborative study which said that schools could reopen if they strictly follow proper safety protocols. But critics question how the study of 11 North Carolina school districts was based on data through October when COVID rates were much lower in the state.
Dr. Danny Benjamin, the co-leader at ABC, told the board that there are North Carolina counties with higher COVID rates than Wake that are still offering in-person classes. He said what school districts should be focusing on is limiting secondary transmission of COVID in schools as opposed to looking at community rates.
“It clearly can be done,” Benjamin said of continuing with in-person instruction. “It’s a very different question than what should be done.”
As of last week, the majority of North Carolina public school students were back on remote learning only due to the recent COVID-19 spike.
Public weighs in on school opening
The board also received public comments Tuesday about its decision to extend the use of only online classes.
Some school employees thanked the board for staying with remote learning.
“I know how much pressure is on all of you to make the ‘right’ decision, even though your decisions will never be able to please everyone,” wrote Courtney Richardson a 2nd-grade teacher. “I thank you dearly, because while not a popular choice, this is the safest choice for students, staff, teachers, families, and community members,”
Amanda Boyd, another Wake teacher, told the board that she was exposed to COVID at school.
“I will say it was not fun watching my amazing coworkers have to cover my in-person students and work during my mandatory quarantine period,” Boyd wrote the board “Please vote to keep WCPSS remote through the end of the school year at least.”
But some peopled voiced their frustration at teachers for not wanting to return at this time.
“It was mentioned that teacher’s ‘aren’t comfortable’ going back to school,” wrote Karen Nelson, the grandparent of a kindergarten student. ”Did someone forget that they are EMPLOYEES? If employees refuse to work, they don’t get paid; they get terminated.”
Some people complained that suspending in-person classes is hurting students academically, socially and emotionally.
“The mental health crisis continues, and worsens when you choose to extend remote learning for all students,” wrote Jennifer Birch, a mental health counselor.
This story was originally published January 19, 2021 at 5:01 PM.
