President Biden said Tuesday night that teachers should prioritize obtaining vaccines, although he did not say whether he thought teachers should be vaccinated before returning to the classroom. The Biden Disease Control Center itself said that teachers’ vaccinations are it is not a prerequisite for reopening schools.
During CNN’s City Hall in Milwaukee, Biden said that the reopening of schools involves ensuring that students and teachers have protective equipment, organizing classrooms into smaller groups and prioritizing the reopening of the K-8 grades, because school students apparently transmit COVID-19 at higher rates. Biden also said that schools may need to open during the summer to make up for lost learning.
“It’s about the need to be able to distance yourself socially, smaller classrooms, more protection and I think that teachers and staff who work at the school … should be on the list of favorites to get vaccinated,” said the president.
“I think we should vaccinate teachers. We should move them up the hierarchy,” added Biden.
Biden emphasized that support staff in schools must be on the list of preferred groups to be vaccinated.
The White House and the CDC did not always have the message of reopening their schools on the same wavelength. Recently, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the CDC director was talking about her “personal ability” when she said that vaccinating teachers is not a prerequisite for reopening schools safely. Psaki finally went back on that comment.
Despite his views, Biden said he cannot demand that states prioritize vaccinating teachers. Biden said he can “make recommendations” about prioritization groups, but said the decision rests with state leaders.
The president also said that the United States will have enough vaccine stock for all adults in July, but noted that it will take longer than that to administer the vaccine to everyone seeking a dose.