Thank you, everyone, for signing the petition to support COVID vaccinations for in-person childcare teachers. More than 3,000 people have signed the petition in less than 4 days! While there has been some public pressure on the mayor to change her position (4 DC Councilmembers penned a letter to the Mayor in our support, and our plight has been featured in the Washington Post and WUSA and WNBC), Mayor Bowser and DC Health have not relented. This week, DC has set aside 5,800 vaccine doses for DCPS and charter school teachers; 0 doses have been made available to childcare teachers. Of course, DCPS is set to resume limited in-person instruction on February 1, while most childcare centers have been open the entire academic year; many stayed open even last spring to care for the children of essential workers.

We will continue to urge the Mayor and DC Health to make the equitable decision: vaccine doses should be made available to childcare teachers immediately, just as they have been set aside for DCPS and charter school teachers. We welcome any additional assistance you can bring to encourage DC's leaders to protect this vital workforce that has shown up in-person, day after day, throughout the pandemic to provide care and education to DC's kids and to allow other essential workers the ability to do their jobs.