L.A. schools chief wants to launch California's largest teacher vaccine effort
SACRAMENTO — Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner is calling on state and local health officials to immediately allow the district to turn its more than 1,400 schools into Covid-19 vaccination sites, focusing on shots for teachers and school staff in what would become California's biggest education vaccine push.
California has prioritized teachers among vaccine recipients but left distribution up to counties, and there is no large-scale effort yet to inoculate school employees in the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom altered the state's vaccine course Wednesday when he announced residents 65 years and older could receive shots in a bid to accelerate vaccinations and protect a high-risk population.
It's unclear, however, when the bulk of the state's 300,000-plus teachers will have access. After Newsom paved the way for seniors, vaccinators began making appointments for older residents, but most have not yet allowed teachers or other non-health essential workers to get in line.
Beutner asked in a Monday letter to California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly and Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer to immediately authorize his school system — the second largest in the U.S. — to vaccinate its teachers and school staff.
"This will not only protect the health and safety of our essential employees but will provide enormous benefit to children and their families, leading to a faster reopening of schools and of the economy more broadly by enabling the working families we serve to go back to work," Beutner said in the letter.
California's 6 million schoolchildren have remained in distance learning for nearly a year, and it is becoming increasingly likely that teachers unions will demand CONTINUE READING: L.A. schools chief wants to launch California's largest teacher vaccine effort
