Educators, childcare workers eligible for COVID-19 vaccine now after Biden directive

Educators and childcare workers in Washington state are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Tuesday after President Joe Biden directed states to prioritize those workers.

President Biden on Tuesday directed states to add preK-12 educators and staff and licensed childcare workers as a currently eligible group.

As a result, the state added educators and licensed childcare workers to Washington state’s Phase 1B-1, which is the current phase and tier. They can seek vaccine appointments immediately, according to Inslee.

The tier was previously limited to people 65 and older and those 50 and older living in multigenerational households.

“The Washington state Department of Health will have more specific information soon on how those workers can access vaccines,” Inslee’s statement reads. “Phase Finder may take time to reflect these changes, but educators and licensed childcare workers can schedule with providers right away.”

Vaccines will likely be primarily delivered via the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, according to the state Department of Health; however, “the directive indicates all vaccine providers should prioritize these workers.”

The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and medical care provider Kaiser Permanente in late January announced an initiative to vaccinate teachers, once eligible, via 14-20 locations along the Interstate 5 corridor and in Spokane.

The office is working with Kaiser to figure out how Tuesday’s announcements will complement that work, according to OSPI spokesperson Katy Payne. The office expects the shift in priorities to speed up the pace for districts working to return to or expand in-person learning. About 36% of students in the state are receiving at least some learning in-person, according to OSPI.

“The good news is that schools will be able to open and we are pleased that teachers will be back in the classroom very soon,” Inslee’s statement reads. “This should give educators more confidence to return to in-person learning and that it can be done with the safety protocols that are being used by 1,400 other schools in our state right now.”

School staff and childcare workers would have been part of the next tier of eligibility, and DOH said the state was “moving to vaccinate them in a matter of weeks.”

“This announcement represents a faster timeline than originally planned, and the department is engaging partners on a robust plan to support this directive,” a DOH statement reads.

Critical workers in certain congregate care settings — the group educators and staff were a part of until Tuesday — are split based on age into tiers 2 and 4 of Phase 1B of the state plan. However, a change to the plan in mid-January will allow providers flexibility to combine those tiers so workers can be eligible all at once, regardless of age.

Beyond the move that allowed providers flexibility, Inslee had resisted moving educators up in the vaccine queue.

In a press conference in late January, Inslee emphasized the need to protect people in the most vulnerable age groups, and that supply wasn’t yet strong enough to vaccinate them.

“If you (vaccinate) other folks it means one of the older people who might be 100 years of age can’t get vaccinated,” Inslee said. “And I just do not believe 25-year-old teachers think they should get in line ahead of their 80-year-old grandparents.”

He has been urging schools to reopen with safety precautions in place. Centers for Disease Control guidance recommends that officials should consider giving teachers high priority in distribution, but that vaccine access shouldn’t be a condition for reopening in-person school.

The Washington Education Association executive board voted to approve a policy in mid-January in part stating its position that every employee must be given access to the vaccine before resuming in-person learning. State Superintendent Chris Reykdal has advocated for school employees’ prioritization, and so have state lawmakers.

State Sen. Brad Hawkins, the ranking Republican on the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee, was a vocal proponent. He signed onto a bipartisan letter to Inslee before the tier flexibility was added, urging educators to be vaccinated at once regardless of age, and continued pushing after that change was made.

“I’m thankful Governor Inslee finally took actions to authorize the school employee vaccinations that I, and many of my colleagues, have been seeking for months,” Hawkins wrote in an email to McClatchy Tuesday. “His recent announcement of moving school employees into Phase B1 seems consistent with what we called for him to do a month ago after previous efforts were not successful.”

In his statement Tuesday, the governor said he would soon be announcing when the state will move into vaccinating critical workers in certain congregate settings, such as workers in grocery stores, farm workers, and bus drivers.

“We will continue our progress in getting every Washingtonian vaccinated,” Inslee said. “I am grateful for the partnership of the federal government and their efforts to help move educators up in the prioritization.”

In a statement Wednesday morning, Larry Brown, president of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, advocated for all essential workers in congregate care settings to be prioritized for vaccination. The WSLC represents unions across the state, accounting for about 500,000 union members.

“Until there is enough vaccine for all essential workers, we understand that impossible choices are being made,” part of Brown’s statement reads. “No essential worker wants to displace older citizens and those who face the greatest risk of severe illness or death.”

But with vaccine supply from the federal government ramping up and the recent approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Brown’s statement reads, “it is our hope that ALL public-facing essential workers can get vaccinated as quickly as possible.”

This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Educators, childcare workers eligible for COVID-19 vaccine now after Biden directive."