Teachers should be a priority for COVID vaccines, unions and others say

Giving educators their turn, just after the first wave of vaccines goes to health care workers and nursing home residents, would help schools get more students back in physical classrooms, said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, which also represents health care workers.

School staff and at-risk students should be part of that group, as well, she added, in a comment submitted Thursday to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Vaccine trials for children are ongoing or just beginning.

“The vaccine must be readily available to them on site to allow for the safe, orderly and timely reopening of schools,” she wrote in the comment, shared with POLITICO.