State urges teachers to return to classrooms -- shot or not

[TexasTowelie]

SEATTLE — The schools chief in Washington state is pushing for teachers to get vaccinated for the coronavirus when it’s their turn but also insisting they get back to classrooms immediately, shot or not.

“The bottom line is a vaccine is a tremendous safety net but it is never the thing that is going to create the perfect scenario,” said Chris Reykdal, superintendent of public instruction. “Our schools are safe today.”

Reykdal on Friday announced a partnership with Kaiser Permanente to offer vaccinations to the state’s 143,000 public school employees and 12,000 private school employees.

The health care company and medical provider is pledging to open its doors to all educators and school employees in the state when each of them become individually eligible under the state’s vaccine rollout.

Read more: https://www.yakimaherald.com/ap/state/state-urges-teachers-to-return-to-classrooms----shot-or-not/article_61052308-3569-5c60-b329-a35069af2e3e.html

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Oh, dear lord.

I don't understand why teachers and all retail workers aren't at the top of the list. They should be well ahead of those age 75 or even 70, because us old people (I'm 72) can easily stay at home and avoid any personal contact.

Yeah, and all the little kids who will be attending school should be ahead of me.

Heck, I had a serious heart attack right before Christmas, but honestly? That's a one-off. It does NOT make my danger from Covid-19 any greater than it was. Really, let's give the vaccine to those who are obligated to deal with the public long before they give it to me.

[FBaggins]

2. You're evaluating two different risks

You’re paying attention to the risk of catching the virus and (correctly) worried that teachers in classrooms would be at greater risk. But the other risk is the comparative impact of catching it. The current science disagrees with you (particularly when compared to the children).

[mdelaguna]

3. Right but children have families, parents etc who are high risk

[FBaggins]

4. Some do... but not most

Most school-age children live with parents in their 30s and 40s and grandparents who live in other homes (or even states).

By comparison, virtually everyone in the prioritized group is at statistically higher-risk.