LANCASTER, Pa. — The Biden Administration announced Monday that members of the military will soon have to get vaccinated. Teachers could be up next.
As cases of the Delta variant of COVID-19 soar and the new school year approaches, a growing number of public health experts are calling to require vaccines for educators.
Top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said state and local governments should consider vaccine mandates as soon as the vaccine gets full FDA approval.
“I hope it’s within the month of August. If that’s the case, you’re going to see the empowerment of local enterprises giving mandates. That could be colleges, universities, places of business, a whole variety, and I strongly support that,” said Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
On the national level, many education groups are supportive of local mandates.
“As a matter of personal conscience I think that we need to be working with our employers, not opposing them, on vaccine mandates,” Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers said, also on “Meet the Press.”
The Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), however, hasn’t yet taken a position on the issue.
“Certainly we’re watching the situation as everyone else is, but right now it is a local decision,” said PSEA spokesman David Broderick. “Right now we’re very, very pleased that so many school staff members have been vaccinated.”
At least 85 percent of school employees in Pennsylvania have chosen to get vaccinated, Broderick said.
But some teachers have chosen otherwise and feel strongly that they shouldn’t have to get vaccinated.
“Isn’t that my privacy? Coming up and asking me, ‘Are you vaccinated?’ It’s really none of your business. Did I ask you if you had a colonoscopy? You know, things like that are really infringing on my rights,” said Lori Irvin, a retired teacher who worked in the School District of Lancaster for 32 years.
The State Department of Education isn't mandating the vaccine for teachers however, the administration strongly encourages anyone who is eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine to do so as soon as possible including teachers.
The administration also would be supportive of individual school districts implementing any legally sound and appropriate policies that help to increase vaccination rates.
More than 112,500 teachers and school staff were vaccinated through a successful special initiative of the Wolf administration last school year and additional teachers have been vaccinated through other clinics.
Local districts may still decide to impose their own mandates. The School District of Lancaster, for example, voted in their July 20 board meeting on a health and safety plan that would require both teachers and students to either show proof of vaccination or wear a mask at school.