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 personally supports 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 about 80 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

School Climate & Safety K-12 Essentials Forum Strengthen Students’ Connections to School
Join this free event to learn how schools are creating the space for students to form strong bonds with each other and trusted adults.
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
Assessment Webinar
Standards-Based Grading Roundtable: What We've Achieved and Where We're Headed
Content provided by Otus
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
Reading & Literacy Webinar
Creating Confident Readers: Why Differentiated Instruction is Equitable Instruction
Join us as we break down how differentiated instruction can advance your school’s literacy and equity goals.
Content provided by Lexia Learning

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 New Title IX Rule Has Explicit Ban on Discrimination of LGBTQ+ Students
The new rule, while long awaited, stops short of addressing the thorny issue of transgender athletes' participation in sports.
6 min read
Demonstrators advocating for transgender rights and healthcare stand outside of the Ohio Statehouse on Jan. 24, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. The rights of LGBTQ+ students will be protected by federal law and victims of campus sexual assault will gain new safeguards under rules finalized Friday, April19, 2024, by the Biden administration. Notably absent from Biden’s policy, however, is any mention of transgender athletes.
Demonstrators advocating for transgender rights and healthcare stand outside of the Ohio Statehouse on Jan. 24, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. The rights of LGBTQ+ students will be protected by federal law and victims of campus sexual assault will gain new safeguards under rules finalized Friday, April19, 2024, by the Biden administration. Notably absent from Biden’s policy, however, is any mention of transgender athletes.
Patrick Orsagos/AP
Federal Opinion 'Jargon' and 'Fads': Departing IES Chief on State of Ed. Research
Better writing, timelier publication, and more focused research centers can help improve the field, Mark Schneider says.
7 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Federal Electric School Buses Get a Boost From New State and Federal Policies
New federal standards for emissions could accelerate the push to produce buses that run on clean energy.
3 min read
Stockton Unified School District's new electric bus fleet reduces over 120,000 pounds of carbon emissions and leverages The Mobility House's smart charging and energy management system.
A new rule from the Environmental Protection Agency sets higher fuel efficiency standards for heavy-duty vehicles. By 2032, it projects, 40 percent of new medium heavy-duty vehicles, including school buses, will be electric.
Business Wire via AP
Federal What Would Happen to K-12 in a 2nd Trump Term? A Detailed Policy Agenda Offers Clues
A conservative policy agenda could offer the clearest view yet of K-12 education in a second Trump term.
8 min read
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, March 9, 2024, in Rome Ga.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, March 9, 2024, in Rome, Ga. Allies of the former president have assembled a detailed policy agenda for every corner of the federal government with the idea that it would be ready for a conservative president to use at the start of a new term next year.
Mike Stewart/AP