Educators in Massachusetts can start signing up for COVID-19 vaccination appointments next week, Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday.
The appointments will be available for K-12 employees, early childcare and school staff starting March 11, Baker said after a tour at the West Parish School in Gloucester along with Secretary of Education James Peyser and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley.
The announcement comes a day after President Joe Biden said he was directing all states to prioritize teachers for vaccinations, news that was welcomed by the Massachusetts Teachers Association.
Baker said that the state wanted to stay consistent with federal vaccination regulations, but that people will need to be patient as the state waits for more vaccine supply. The state receives about 150,000 first doses of vaccine each week, Baker said. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are both two-dose shots. The newly-approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine is only one shot.
“The big challenge here is available supply and it’s been that way now more or less since the beginning,” Baker said, adding that the state has the capacity to vaccinate far more residents than it has doses of vaccine.
There are about 400,000 K-12 educators, child care workers and K-12 school staff in Massachusetts, officials said. The state estimates it will take a month for all eligible individuals to secure a first appointment based on the current vaccine supply.
With a push from Baker and Massachusetts education officials to have more students back in classrooms, and a return to five days of in-person learning possible for elementary students as early as next month, educators and their unions have been frustrated with the wait to get vaccinated.
Riley has told the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education that he plans to ask for the authority to determine when hybrid and remote learning will no longer be an option for districts.
Riley said he hopes to have elementary students learning in-person five days a week in April.
Baker said Wednesday that the board will discuss giving Riley that authority on Friday. The Republican governor said that roughly 80% of schools in Massachusetts have some form of hybrid or in-person learning, but that officials still want to see more students in school more often.
Massachusetts has been in Phase 2 of its vaccination program since the start of last month. So far in this phase, senior residents and people with at least two co-morbidities have been able to get inoculated, but teachers had not yet been able to get the shot.
Though teachers and school staff will be able to get appointments, there will be competition for appointments. Baker was asked if teachers would have a “fast lane” to get inoculated.
Baker says there are still “significant numbers” of people above age 65 with two co-morbidities who need doses. He also said 90% of deaths have come from people age 65 and up.
”We want everybody who’s part of these groups to get vaccinated, but unless we get a significant amount of additional supply, it’s going to take a while for people to work their way through the system,” he said.
Baker said he didn’t see how the administration could take away doses from others to speed up educator inoculations.
“We think teachers should absolutely be part of the game starting next week and they’ll be able to make appointments,” Baker said, “and if the feds dramatically increase supply to help states deliver on this directive from the White House, that would be terrific because we have the capacity in Massachusetts to do far more vaccinating than we actually have available vaccine.”
Though, it appears that the state is considering making “special days” to get educators vaccinated.
Baker also said his administration was surprised to learn that Massachusetts would only be getting 58,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson shot and that more doses are not expected until the end of the month.
“If I’ve learned anything since the start of this, it’s how important it is for people who want a vaccine to get it, how important it is to put it into the arms of people who are at risk themselves or work on those who are at risk,” Baker said.
Early Wednesday, the CVS website listed K-12 teachers, daycare and preschool staff in Massachusetts as eligible for the vaccine. A CVS spokesman said the company was aligning with updated Federal Retail Pharmacy Program guidelines by making appointments to educators.
Previously, the CDC had said teacher vaccinations are not a prerequisite for the safe reopening of schools. The CDC and Biden administration have said that schools can safely reopen with mitigation efforts like masking and distancing.
In addition to masking and distancing, Massachusetts has a pooled testing program for students and staff, part of an effort to keep more kids in the classroom.
As of Monday, 171 schools and districts have signed up for the pooled testing program. DESE is covering the funding for the launch of the program and has extended its funding commitment from March 28 until April 18.
MassLive reporter Steph Solis contributed to this story.
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