Locals react to teacher vaccine eligibility

Allison Corneau and Madeline Hughes, The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.
·4 min read

Mar. 4—Local teachers unions across the Merrimack Valley are celebrating access to the coronavirus vaccine after federal and state officials said educators and other school employees can receive their first COVID-19 shot within the month.

"Getting back to normal is on everyone's mind, but families need to know that we are not risking the progress we have made together," said Kim Barry, Lawrence Teachers Union president. "Getting shots in the arms of educators and school staff gives parents the confidence that their children are protected."

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday night that all educators and others working in schools from pre-kindergarten through high school are now eligible to receive the vaccine through the federal pharmacy program. The morning after Biden's federal announcement, Gov. Charlie Baker told educators in Massachusetts they would be eligible to get in line at state-run sites starting March 11.

Now the hunt begins for appointments.

Educators could be competing for vaccination slots with the nearly one million more residents who just entered the appointment pool two weeks ago when the Baker-Polito Administration opened up slots to residents 65+ and those with two or more qualifying medical conditions.

There are currently three COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use in the United States: the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses each, while the most recently authorized vaccine from Johnson & Johnson provides coverage in only one shot.

At a press conference announcing the new March 11 availability for educators, Baker said the state may set aside specific dates for school staff members to be vaccinated at mass vaccination sites across the state to expedite the process.

State Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley has proposed a goal date of April 5 to return to classrooms for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The vaccination effort announced Wednesday by the Baker-Polito Administration is said to be one step toward that goal.

However, the state is still only getting 150,000 new first doses a week and Baker has said the state needs more to get teachers their first dose within the month of March, a deadline Biden set in his Monday announcement.

"We're making this announcement to be consistent with the Biden-Harris directive," Baker said. "We don't want people to be confused. But we obviously need a lot more doses a lot sooner than the current guidelines that have been applied to us by the feds if we're truly going to make it through this group as quickly as possible."

The Massachusetts Teachers Association has proposed a plan they are calling the "Last Mile Vaccine Delivery Plan" that is currently on Baker's desk that asks that vaccines be specifically distributed to educators, similar to the way hospitals and residential living facilities were prioritized at the beginning of the rollout.

Without a plan to get teachers vaccinated at an expedited pace, "we are not really moving closer to finding a solution that can bring everyone back to an in-person healthy and safe learning environment," said Matthew Bach, the president of the Andover Education Association.

"It would be an empty gesture to say 'you can get the vaccine' and then not be able to get vaccinated," Bach said.

The plan proposed by the Massachusetts Teachers Association would start with high-risk communities. Haverhill, Lawrence and Methuen are among the 20 cities and towns designated as equity communities by the state Department of Public Health as those hardest-hit by the pandemic.

Consentino Middle School has been used as a local vaccination site and could easily be repurposed for teachers during the "Last Mile" program, said Anthony Parolisi, president of the Haverhill Education Association.

"So there's institutional knowledge already in the city and with this program, it's ready to roll. We could easily start this on the 11th. It's ground-ready," Parolisi said. "We've just been pushing the legislature and the governor for weeks to do this because we've heard and seen this call for more in-person learning."

"Here in Haverhill, the vaccination rate is a metric that's really important to us locally and something educators have said in large numbers that is needed for them to feel comfortable before returning to in-person learning," he said.