The head of the second largest teachers’ union said on Sunday that teachers should be vaccinated against COVID-19 to protect students who cannot be vaccinated. The announcement comes as more and more children have been infected during the surge in epidemics that hit many southern states.
“The situation has changed,” Randy Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told NBC News “Meet the media.”
“Children under the age of 12 cannot be vaccinated. This is really heavy for me, and I think it is necessary… to stand up and say it is a matter of personal conscience,” she said.
Health experts say that the Delta variant is more likely to infect children than the original strain.
The United States’ top infectious disease official, Dr. Anthony Fauci, emphasized that it is very important to have vaccinated and masked people surround the child before the child is allowed to be vaccinated.
“You let them be surrounded by people who can be vaccinated, no matter who they are-teachers, school staff, anyone-vaccinate them. Use the shield of the vaccinated person to protect the children,” he said at NBC Said the news in another interview.
The Biden administration has stated that almost 90% of educators are vaccinated, but the number of hospitalized children continues to rise.
Former Director of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, said that it is reckless to not require students to wear masks when they resume full-day face-to-face learning.
The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, recently refused to make mandatory the wearing of masks in schools and prevented the school district from doing so, despite the record number of cases this week.
