COLOMBIA – The chances of teachers advancing in line for COVID-19 vaccines were reached on February 16, when a panel from the SC Chamber delayed the progress of a proposal prioritizing educators after a parade of defenders of other workers and under medical risk, residents asked lawmakers to also promote their groups.
The SC Senate passed legislation that would place all K-12 employees and day care centers in Phase 1A, adding about 150,000 people to a list that already includes 1.3 million South Carolina residents.
But, at the project’s first hearing in the Chamber, state deputies made it clear that it has little chance of moving forward.
Fifty-five representatives of groups that included port dockers, poultry processors, city bus drivers, public service workers, industry employees and people in adult daycare centers and disability programs testified on February 16 that they also deserved priority.
Bus drivers “can come face to face” with 500 people during their eight-hour shift, said David Bonner, general manager of the company that operates the Charleston area transit system.
CARTA driver Tabatha James expects passengers to board the bus on King Street in Charleston on March 20, 2020. File / Gavin McIntyre / Staff
“Every day they are at risk,” he said. “Please honor the contributions that our workers have made.”
In the face of trying to decide whether teachers are more important than a long list of other Southern Carolinians vying for the priority of COVID-19 vaccines, the House panel was slow to do anything.
“Everyone who testified today is important,” said panel chairman, Representative Bill Herbkersman, R-Bluffton, at the conclusion of the hearing. “I don’t know if the Legislature should be involved in the process of moving and prioritizing people.”
House Ways and Means subcommittee wants to hear next week about plans to vaccinate K-12 employees as soon as they become eligible and how the Johnson & Johnson vaccine – which federal regulators may authorize in the coming weeks – can be dedicated to teachers and other critical workers in the next phase of eligibility.
What the House could ultimately do is make recommendations instead of approving a mandate that may not stand a chance of taking effect before the state moves on to the next phase. Teachers and day care centers are among the “essential frontline workers” in Phase 1B, which also includes police and firefighters, along with grocery stores, public transportation, agricultural and construction workers. Vaccinations for category 1B have not yet started.
The legislative proposal chooses two groups to overtake other critical workers, said Department of Transportation secretary Christy Hall, calling her employees “mission critical” to keep roads open, including the potential to fight snow and ice in the coming days. .
“You are choosing winners and losers,” said Hall.
Teacher advocates considered legislation essential to bring students back to classrooms and keep schools staffed amid teacher shortages exacerbated by the pandemic.
Even in schools that offer face-to-face learning, the quarantine required by security protocols often means that students are not with their teachers, said Patrick Kelly of the Palmetto State Teachers Association.
Fifth grade teacher Vanessa Mijango takes a break from virtual teaching to her students at Joseph Pye Elementary School on September 8, 2020. Archive / Gavin McIntyre / Team
“Without a teacher in the classroom, there is no rich learning environment,” he said. “We cannot have normal until we stabilize the staff.”
But with demand for vaccines far greater than supplies, and appointments already being canceled due to delays in boarding, the project certainly appears to pit teachers against the elderly, said House minority leader Todd Rutherford, D-Columbia.
He compared this to a legislative version of the 2012 movie “The Hunger Games”, which shows people killing themselves to find a winner.
“We are dealing with people who are struggling for survival,” he said. “We don’t want to do that or / or. I’m not in a position to decide life or death, but those are life and death decisions.”
While many advocates called for priority, others urged lawmakers to stick to the course by prioritizing those most vulnerable to seriously ill and die from COVID-19.
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are prepared to be administered at a Roper St. Francis Healthcare drive-thru event in the North Charleston Coliseum parking lot on January 20, 2021. Archives / Andrew J. Whitaker / Staff
Teresa Arnold, AARP’s state director, reminded the panel that 82 percent of the 8,000 South Carolinians who died of COVID-19 were 65 or older. It is a statistic that Governor Henry McMaster has repeatedly cited in refusing to make teachers immediately qualified, saying it takes away the chance of those who are still waiting to get one.
Some speakers argued that other groups are more at risk than teachers in classrooms with plastic sheeting and other security measures.
“Teachers are vulnerable, like all of us,” said Tim Womack, director of the Appalachian Council of Governments, which serves senior citizens in the state. “But how can we put this group ahead of the others? What about the cashiers at the grocery stores who work for a minimum wage and don’t even have health insurance? And the volunteers who deliver food to Meals on Wheels?”
follow Seanna Adcox on Twitter at @seannaadcox_pc.