The first coronavirus vaccines for adults are nearly here, but children’s vaccines will take a lot longer. Pfizer and Moderna’s pediatric trials are just getting started for children older than 12.
Teachers will be in an early group of people to receive vaccines, after health care workers and people living in long-term care facilities. Even before teachers are vaccinated, their unions say that elementary schools can be reopened safely, as long as districts follow testing, personal protective equipment, physical distancing and ventilation protocols. We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: Young kids do not pose a high risk of infecting others.
“You can reopen elementary schools before you have the vaccine for teachers, but the vaccine will create an insurance that things are safe,” said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers.
By Amelia Nierenberg and
