COLOMBIA – Teachers in South Carolina are seeking priority status for the next phase of eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine, saying their immunization is a vital part of getting students back to classrooms across the state.
But even if they receive a special designation, it is unclear whether it is possible to vaccinate the nearly 200,000 teachers and assistants in the state, from kindergarten to college, before the school year is over.
In the meantime, the House of Representatives budget drafting committee moved forward with a bill on Monday with the intention of speeding up the process of obtaining available doses of weapons, while recognizing that the state is limited by its supply of weapons. federal government.
The accelerated project provides up to $ 208 million in state reserves for the effort. A unanimous vote sent him to the House floor, where he is expected to get approval easily later this week.
“I know it comes at a high price, but we don’t need to save costs to ensure that these vaccines are distributed as quickly as possible,” said House Ways and Means President Murrell Smith, R-Sumter. “Hopefully, we will see some improvements. Many of them are beyond our control.”
South Carolina remains in its early eligibility phase, dubbed 1A, which covers a long list of health professionals, residents of nursing homes and assisted living centers and people aged 70 and over. Altogether, almost a million South Carolina residents are eligible for an injection, but it will take weeks, even months, before everyone in 1A who wants injections can get them.
As of Sunday, South Carolina had received about 340,000 doses in total for people who do not live or work in long-term care facilities, where vaccines are treated under a federal contract with CVS and Walgreens. More than 70 percent of doses of non-long-term care have been put into practice, while more than 313,500 additional doses have been booked by appointment, largely from future shipments.
The state is expected to receive about 63,000 injections per week – plus second doses for the necessary follow-up injection – in the near future.
In their letter on Friday to Governor Henry McMaster, teachers’ advocates said they recognized that the need for vaccines is far greater than the supply, but noted that other states have already prioritized teacher access.
“As you’ve noted since last summer, there is a critical need to provide safe, in-person educational opportunities for students across our state, and access to the vaccine for educators would play a significant role in making something as close to normal school functioning as possible, “wrote the letter signed by the leaders of the Palmetto State Teachers Association and the South Carolina Education Association.
The appeal to McMaster, who ultimately has the final say on how doses provided by the federal government are distributed, came after the state’s group of vaccine advisers from healthcare providers dropped the teachers’ request, concluding that eligibility should fall for those who are most vulnerable.
Teachers are currently on the Phase 1B list, which includes daycare centers, supermarket employees, prison officers, bus drivers, firefighters and other workers deemed essential.
Rep. Chris Wooten, R-Lexington, said he feared that not giving teachers priority means “we are not talking about going back to school this year five days a week, because our teachers are not going to let that happen.”
“If we can bring the children back to school, we will not only de-stress teachers, but we will also help our children’s mental health and help grandma and grandpa not have to take care of the children,” he said.
Under current rules, public and private school employees represent just over a third of the 574,000 people in Phase 1B. But some employers are calling for their workers to be added to the list, which would add more people.
Instead of putting teachers in a separate class, the advisory committee discussed adding a qualifier to Phase 1B, limiting eligibility to workers who are not only considered essential, but also have an underlying health problem that makes them vulnerable. death of the disease.
Bruce Holstein, CEO of Spartanburg Regional Healthcare, told lawmakers that the focus needs to continue on vaccinating the elderly while supplies are so limited.
“If you do the math on that, just for the group of 70 and above, we will be at least three months away from completing that group in the current federal government supply,” he told a House panel last Thursday. “I know we’re talking about teachers and manufacturing and getting the economy going and kids back to school,” but he begged lawmakers to consider data on death rates in South Carolina.
For COVID-19 patients aged 85 and over, the death rate is 28 percent. It is 16 percent for people aged 75 to 85 and 6 percent for people aged 65 to 75. The average age of a COVID-19 patient released from a South Carolina hospital is 68, said Holstein.
“Caring for the elderly is critical,” he said.
In addition to providing money, the measure moved to the House floor on Monday also further expands those who are legally eligible to take a chance in South Carolina, extending the list already extended through a January 14 agreement between the state licensing and public health agencies.
The people added through this joint application included retired nurses, provided their leave has expired in the past five years, and medical students. But hospital officials told lawmakers that the deal did not go far enough to ensure that South Carolina has enough people to fire quickly, especially when federal shipments increase.
Newly qualified people to administer COVID-19 injections can apply as volunteers through the website of the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.