Blog

Your Education Road Map

Politics K-12®

ESSA. Congress. State chiefs. School spending. Elections. Education Week reporters keep watch on education policy and politics in the nation’s capital and in the states. Read more from this blog.

Federal

Fauci Backs Teacher Vaccine Mandates: ‘We Are in a Critical Situation Now’

By Evie Blad — August 10, 2021 2 min read
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, arrives for an event with President Joe Biden on the coronavirus in the State Dinning Room of the White House on Jan. 21, 2021.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s chief epidemiologist, said Tuesday he supports efforts to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for teachers, one of the strongest signals of support for such measures from a federal official leading the nation’s response to the pandemic.

Such mandates would not be made at the federal level, said Fauci, President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser, in an appearance on MSNBC. But local requirements may be useful as schools reopen amid the spread of the more-contagious Delta variant of COVID-19, he said.

“I’m going to upset some people on this, but I think we should,” Fauci said of vaccine requirements for teachers. “I mean we are in a critical situation now. We’ve had 615,000-plus deaths, and we are in a major surge now as we are going into the fall, into the school season. This is very serious business.”

He made his comments in response to a question about American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten saying over the weekend that she personallysupports educator vaccine requirements.

Some local union chapters have pushed back against possible vaccine mandates as an increasing number of state and local leaders announce requirements for public employees, including teachers in some cases. But others have changed their position as case numbers and hospitalizations rise in many areas.

On Tuesday, the union for Washington, D.C., schools became the latest to support such a requirement. Later, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a that the city’s teachers would be required to be vaccinated and that that those who were exempt from the policy would be tested weekly for the virus.

Federal officials prioritized teachers for early vaccine doses last winter as part of their strategy to return students to in-person learning. The vaccinations not only protect those who receive them, but they can also help lower the likelihood of transmission for those around them, including children under age 12, who are too young to be vaccination, epidemiologists have said.

By April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that about80 percent of teachers, school staff, and child-care workers had received at least one vaccine dose. Both major national teachers’ unions now say about 90 percent of their members are vaccinated.

But there are parts of the country where vaccination rates are lower across populations, including among educators in some districts. Public health officials in those areas have said more adults should be vaccinated to help ensure safe in-person learning with fewer interruptions for quarantines.

However, some states, including Arkansas, Florida, and Texas, have prohibited state and local vaccine requirements for public workers, including teachers.

Some public health experts have urged caution on talk of vaccine mandates, saying they may stir up anger among anti-vaccination organizers. But more businesses and public officials have set such requirements in the last month, expressing concern about the Delta variant.

The three vaccines in use in the United States have emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. Some officials have said they will wait to consider mandates until after the vaccines receive full, permanent approval.

Fauci said he expects that approval to come “very soon.”

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Classroom Technology Webinar
How to Leverage Virtual Learning: Preparing Students for the Future
Hear from an expert panel how best to leverage virtual learning in your district to achieve your goals.
Content provided by Class
English-Language Learners Webinar AI and English Learners: What Teachers Need to Know
Explore the role of AI in multilingual education and its potential limitations.
Education Webinar The K-12 Leader: Data and Insights Every Marketer Needs to Know
Which topics are capturing the attention of district and school leaders? Discover how to align your content with the topics your target audience cares about most. 

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal A Flood of Public Feedback Has Delayed a Title IX Change Covering Trans Athletes—Again
The Biden administration has not taken the final step to adopt long-awaited Title IX changes that would explicitly protect LGBTQ+ students.
5 min read
Isaya S. waves out the window of a Seattle Public Schools bus while participating in the annual Seattle Pride Parade on June 25, 2023, in Seattle.
Isaya S. waves out the window of a Seattle Public Schools bus while participating in the annual Seattle Pride Parade on June 25, 2023, in Seattle.
Lindsey Wasson/AP
Federal Is Funding for School Archery and Hunting Programs Really at Risk?
A U.S. Department of Education document led to confusion among school administrators about funding for archery and hunting programs.
4 min read
Students participate in a school archery program. A group of congressional lawmakers are working to amend federal law to ensure schools can purchase bow and arrows and other supplies for archery, sharp shooting, and hunting programs in schools.
Students participate in a school archery program. A group of congressional lawmakers are working to amend federal law to ensure schools can purchase bow and arrows and other supplies for school archery, sharp shooting, and hunting programs with federal education funds.
Courtesy of the National Archery in the Schools Program
Federal A Senate Committee Takes Up School Book Wars, Complete With Sharp Partisan Divisions
The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "book bans" included one Republican senator reading sexually explicit passages.
4 min read
Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois secretary of state, talks with Chairman Richard Durbin, D-Ill., right, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled "Book Bans: Examining How Censorship Limits Liberty and Literature," in Hart Building on Tuesday, September 12, 2023.
Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois secretary of state, talks with Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., right, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled "Book Bans: Examining How Censorship Limits Liberty and Literature," on Sept. 12, 2023.
Tom Williams/AP
Federal WATCH: 5 Key Takeaways on Education From the 1st GOP Presidential Debate
Among the highlights: take on the teachers' unions, scrap the Education Department, and boost reading.
8 min read
Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum stand on stage before a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by FOX News Channel on Aug. 23, 2023, in Milwaukee.
Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum stand on stage before a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by FOX News Channel on Aug. 23, 2023, in Milwaukee.
Morry Gash/AP