ATLANTA -- "This is obviously outstanding news for the over 114,000 teachers and thousands of in-school personnel throughout the state of Georgia,” said Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE) referring to Gov. Kemp’s announcement that teachers and in-school personnel will now be moved up to the priority vaccine list. “We encourage our teachers and education support professionals (ESPs) to take full advantage and register now so they can be vaccinated as soon as possible after March 8th.”
“With our children still not receiving the vaccine, it is critical that as many educators as possible are vaccinated to reduce the chances for transmission of coronavirus within our schools. Ensuring all school employees are vaccinated is critical to the CDC’s guidance regarding COVID mitigation strategies,” Morgan said.
“However, this will not be a magic bullet that suddenly eradicates COVID-19 transmission,” emphasized Morgan. “Mitigation strategies still need to be in place with enforced compliance since our students will still not be vaccinated.”
The CDC’s (Centers for Disease Control) published revised guidance stated that educators should be given high priority in the early phases of vaccination distribution, in part due to their work being critical to the continued functioning of society and the potential occupational risk of exposure. “Based on this latest guidance, we know that with the proper mitigation practices consistently in place, schools can be safe for in-person learning - if, and only if - the mitigation strategies are implemented with fidelity,” said Morgan.
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