Recently, Governor Ned Lamont revised the COVID-19 vaccination priority list to a strict, age-tiered system. There is an exception for K-12 educators, who are required to teach in-person up to four days a week in the new hybrid system. In their teaching roles, it is nearly impossible to keep 6 feet of distance from students. This situation makes it imperative to vaccinate educators to protect them from their near-constant exposure to their students.

With that said, those who teach and work at higher education institutions have not been prioritized along with K-12 educators. With the current vaccination schedule, educators (especially younger educators) will likely have to wait the rest of the spring semester to receive their vaccination. This is very dangerous, and will likely lead to excess infections in higher education employees that are otherwise extremely cautious.

Many college educators are teaching on-campus, in-person just as often as a K-12 educator. There are many classes that are difficult or impossible to translate to online (laboratories, practicum, etc.). The college student age group is also known for engaging in risky behavior such as going to bars and parties without masks. This means that those working at the college level are more likely to be exposed to COVID-19 from their students. Those facilitating higher education are at just as much risk as those teaching K-12.

We are calling on Governor Ned Lamont to expand the education vaccine sub-group to include teachers and staff at both K-12 and higher education.

Photo Credit: Illinois Federation of Teachers