Pennsylvania’s initial doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine will go into the arms of school employees and child care workers.
The state is expecting to receive an initial batch of 94,000 doses of this new vaccine this week. It will be reserved to launch an educator vaccination initiative intended to get schools and child care centers back open for in-person instruction.
Gov. Tom Wolf, along with members of the COVID-19 Vaccine Joint Task Force, plan to hold an 11 a.m. news conference on Wednesday to share further details about this effort.
Wolf indicated at a Tuesday news conference that the task force sees this as an unique opportunity to use the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to specifically target this group of front-line workers. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is administered in one shot, as opposed to the two-dose vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer. Eventually, Wolf said others, including police and fire personnel and grocery store clerks, will be prioritized.
Given the race between vaccinations and the COVID-19 variants that are emerging, the governor said, “We want to do this as quickly as possible.”
Sen. Ryan Aument, R-Lancaster County, who serves on the seven-member task force, said child care workers and elementary school teachers, as well as school support staff are prioritized for this initial allocation of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The task force’s expectation, he said, is to remove this barrier that has prevented some schools from reopening.
“It’s an important priority for Pennsylvania families. It’s important for our students and the broader community getting folks back to work, particularly parents of elementary-age children … and honestly getting students back in school so they can learn and so they can socialize with their fellow students,” Aument said.
The task force estimates there are nearly 200,000 school employees and child care workers outside of Philadelphia who are eligible to receive the vaccine. Philadelphia receives its own direct allocation of the vaccine from the federal government.
Excluding those school employees who are already eligible under Phase 1A of the state’s vaccination program and those don’t want the vaccine, Aument said he hopes that by the end of March or early April, all school employees who want the vaccine will have had the opportunity to receive a shot, so schools can reopen.
“In terms of what will be the specific trigger as to when those school buildings reopen, it certainly is going to be based on the number of teachers vaccinated and the number of teachers who were offered the vaccine and declined,” Aument said.
He expects information about that to be released by the Department of Education.
As of late February, 39% of public schools in Pennsylvania were still fully remote, with just 20% operating fully in-person, with the rest in a hybrid format.
Aument said the task force regards this initiative as separate from the state’s phased vaccination rollout, which has been a point of criticism from those who see the state as putting educators ahead of vulnerable and older citizens.
“This special initiative to get our kids back in school and to vaccinate teachers does not move teachers ahead of our seniors in [Phase] 1A,” Aument said. “It’s clearer to think about this as a special category, not 1A.”
Aument said seniors and others who are eligible to receive the vaccine under Phase 1A will continue to be prioritized for the state’s Moderna and Pfizer vaccine allocations. Those allocations are increasing and projected to continue doing so over the next several weeks, Aument said.
“Educators and teachers will not be eligible for Moderna or Pfizer unless they are 1A [eligible],” he said. “This is a special allocation based on the initial Johnson & Johnson distribution to the commonwealth that will be distributed apart from the current network of providers at a separate location.”
Pennsylvania State Education Association President Rich Askey and lawmakers have been urging the Wolf Administration to speed up access to a vaccine for school employees.
In a statement issued on Monday, Askey said, “Such a plan would be extraordinarily good news for the health and safety of everyone in our schools. The men and women who teach and serve our students have gone above and beyond for their students in a time of unprecedented challenge. Our schools are essential, and vaccinating the dedicated people who make them work is critical to keeping everyone in them safe and healthy.”
U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, a Montgomery County Democrat, welcomed the news. She and other Democratic House members wrote a joint letter to Wolf on Monday urging the governor to speed up the vaccine rollout, particularly for teachers.
“Our teachers and our schools help keep families on track,” Dean said on Twitter. “The sooner they are vaccinated, the sooner our students can return to school.”
Aument said once vaccines have been administered to all the educators who want it, then the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be in the mix along with Moderna and Pfizer “so we can continue to close out all the folks in 1A and begin to talk about 1B.”
According to the state Department of Health website, Phase 1B includes people in congregate settings not otherwise specified as long-term care facilities; those receiving home and community-based services; first responders; correctional officers and other workers serving people in congregate care settings not included in Phase 1A; food and agricultural workers; U.S. Postal Service workers; manufacturing workers; grocery store workers; education workers; clergy and other essential support for houses of worship; public transit workers; and individuals caring for children or adults in early childhood and adult day programs.
Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy.