Driven by rising vaccine deliveries, states and cities are rapidly expanding their eligibility for COVID-19 shootings to teachers, Americans over the age of 50 and others, as the US struggles to defeat the virus and reopen businesses and schools.
Indiana and Michigan will begin vaccinating those over 50, while Arizona and Connecticut have opened the line to those who are at least 55 years old. Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are reserving the first doses of Johnson & Johnson’s new one-shot vaccine for teachers. In Detroit, too, factory workers can be vaccinated starting this week, regardless of age.
Providing the vaccine to teachers and other schoolchildren “will help protect our communities,” said Tom Wolf, the governor of Pennsylvania. “She will take care of our parents and families. It will make our schools return to the task of teaching our children. ”
To date, the outbreak vaccination campaign, which has killed more than half a million Americans, has focused mainly on health care workers and the elderly.
In the US, politicians and school administrators have been working in recent weeks to reopen classrooms to stop students from falling behind and allow more parents to return to work. But teachers resisted returning without being vaccinated.
The Department of Health and Human Services has ordered all states to make teachers, school staff, bus drivers and child care workers eligible for the shootings. This is a major change for the Biden administration, which controls access to COVID-19 vaccines, but has previously allowed states to set their own guidelines.
Jody Mackey, 46, a professor of digital history and history in Traverse City, Michigan – where students have participated for the most part since September – received the second dose almost two weeks ago, after teachers essential workers have been appointed from her district.
Prior to that, she kept the classroom windows open and used heaters.
“If you want schools to be successful and safe and you want your teachers to have their heads in the game, get them vaccinated,” she said. “Putting teachers in a situation where they feel scared all the time, in which they will want to avoid their children, how is this good for children or teachers?”
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Wednesday ordered students and teachers to return to school this month, saying many teachers have already received the second dose.
“The science is clear: it’s time for all children to have the option to go back to school so they can get back on track and we can close the gap,” Ducey said in a statement.
The United States has administered more than 80 million photos in a vaccination unit that has now caught up, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 20% of the nation’s adults or nearly 52 million people have received at least one dose, and 10% have been completely inoculated.
President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that the United States expects to have enough vaccine by the end of May for all adults – two months earlier than anticipated – although it is likely to take longer than that to administer these fires. He also pushed states to offer at least one blow to teachers by the end of the month and said the government will provide doses through its pharmacy program.
In Wisconsin, teachers will receive priority when the state receives its first shipment of about 48,000 doses of J&J vaccine, health officials said. Pennsylvania teachers will also be the first in line when 94,000 expected doses of this formula are expected this week.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced this week that educators, school staff and child care workers can now be shot. In Texas, where teachers have struggled to gain access to gunfire, state officials on Wednesday ordered vaccine providers to begin administering shots to school workers.
And in Massachusetts, about 400,000 teachers, childcare workers and school staff can register for vaccinations as early as March 11, Gov. Charlie Baker said, though he warned that it could take time to book appointments because reservations remain limited.
Tennessee will open vaccinations Monday to about 1 million people over the age of 16 who have high-risk health conditions and to those in medically fragile households.
The rush to vaccinate comes as many states ease restrictions on people and businesses, despite repeated warnings from health officials that the United States risks another deadly wave. Biden called on Republican governors in Texas and Mississippi to lift the mask rules.
“We are on the verge of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease,” the president said on Wednesday. “The last thing we need is for the Neanderthal to think that everything is fine in the meantime, take off your mask, forget it. It still matters. ”
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves has returned to Twitter. “Mississippi people don’t need manipulators. As the numbers drop, they can evaluate their choices and listen to experts, ”he said. “I think we just have to trust Americans, not insult them.”
While recently confirmed deaths and infections fell from their peaks in January, they are still at high levels. The US has an average of almost 2,000 deaths and 66,000 cases a day.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky encouraged Americans to “do the right thing” even if states lift restrictions.
Vaccinations are seen as the key to getting people back to work and revitalizing the battered economy.
“The safer and more effective we can get a vaccine, the sooner we can get back to a sense of normalcy,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement Wednesday, announcing that people between the ages of 50 and 64 can start vaccinations on March 22.
Cindy Estrada, vice president of United Auto Workers, said there were illnesses and deaths among factory workers, so Detroit’s decision to offer them “is incredibly important.”
“It will give them some peace of mind,” she said, exposing her arm for a blow.
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Associated Press writers Collin Binkley of Boston; David Eggert in Lansing, Michigan; Ed White in Detroit; John Flesher in Traverse City, Michigan; Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville, Tennessee; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; Terry Tang in Phoenix; Tom Davies in Indianapolis; and Alexandra Jaffe, Nancy Benac and Zeke Miller of Washington contributed.