US states aim to help vulnerable communities as vaccine distribution ramps up
As the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to release guidelines this week on how to open schools safely during the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Scott Gottlieb said it’s important to vaccinate teachers, but not a prerequisite to open schools. Mitigation measures, however, are a must, they said.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday that reopening schools safely is,
“a simple question but with a complicated answer, because it really depends on the level of infection in the community.”
Getting K-8 schools open in the next 100 days is a priority of the Biden administration, Fauci said, but “they’re going to need some help” so that schools can have “the capability with masks, with the ability to get better ventilation, all the things you want to do.”
“It would be great to get all the teachers vaccinated as quickly as we possibly can,” Fauci said, explaining why teachers are among the essential worker group prioritized to receive vaccines.
Gottlieb, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, said on CBS’ Face the Nation Sunday that when it comes to opening schools, “I think the prerequisite is putting in place mitigation steps in the schools.”
Gottlieb noted research that showed that when people wore masks, stayed distanced and took precautions, “there’s very little transmission within the classroom, the schools are not a vector of transmission.” Gottlieb said that this was especially the case with children under the age of 14, who were less likely to get infected and transmit infection.
Gottlieb added that while it would be good to prioritize teachers for vaccination, “I don’t think it’s necessarily a prerequisite. I think schools have demonstrated that they can open safely if they’ve taken precautions in the classroom.”
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said last week that the agency would soon release guidance on school reopenings, and had noted that teacher vaccination “is not a prerequisite for safe reopening of schools.”
