Vaccine ‘Hunger Games’: With teachers, other groups fight to move up in the line
If state lawmakers want to move K-12 teachers up in the COVID-19 vaccine line, they also will have to consider whether it’s right to prioritize educators over other groups such as construction workers, food processors and manufacturers.
A panel of House members considered proposals to move teachers and school support staff into Phase 1A of COVID-19 vaccine distribution — the phase that South Carolina remains in in its effort to vaccination the population. However, during a hearing on the proposal passed by the state Senate last week, other groups advocated to be considered, too, even as the vaccine demand outpaces vaccine supply.
Representatives of workers in many fields requested that their employees be moved up in the vaccine list. They represented workers in manufacturing, ports operations, public transit, garbage collection, and adult day cares; employees of state agencies, including the Transportation and Motor Vehicles departments; and people with disabilities and members of the clergy, among others.
They spoke one week after the Senate passed legislation to move teachers, school support personnel and daycare workers up to Phase 1A after only taking testimony from the Department of Health and Environmental Control and S.C. Department of Education.
“This process kind of reminds you of a modern day ‘Hunger Games,’” House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford said. “It deals with people fighting for survival. We’re sitting on this panel and we’re forced to be in this position because the Senate didn’t do any semblance of a job and didn’t listen to any testimony or think about the bill they sent over.”
Ultimately, the Ways and Means Healthcare subcommittee wants to hear from DHEC and the Department of Education about how vaccinating teachers would roll out, but that’s not expected to happen until next week, which further keeps teachers from moving up on the list immediately.
The subcommittee also wants to know how many more vaccine doses are coming online, especially with Johnson and Johnson’s single dose vaccine potentially being given emergency use authorization in the coming weeks.
Health care workers, people 65 and older, pharmacists, long-term care facility residents, first responders who provide medical care, and corrections officers are among those listed as part of phase 1A by DHEC.
But the danger of adding more and more people into the first phase is making it difficult to even move on to subsequent phases.
“If we add more people to 1A, we’re never going to get to 1B,” said Rebecca Leach, the executive director of the S.C. Retail Association.
Currently, South Carolina teachers are scheduled to be in phase 1B of vaccine distribution along with those who work in manufacturing, grocery stores, food and agricultural, the postal service, and in public transit workers.
Sara Hazzard, the president and CEO of the S.C. Manufacturers Alliance said the group wants to make sure manufacturers remain a prioritized group in the vaccine rollout.
“Manufacturers provide essential products and are a critical part of our state and nation supply chain, and manufacturers played a significant role in keeping South Carolina’s economic foundation stable and strong as we entered one of the most extraordinary times in history,” Hazzard said.
The push to vaccinate teachers from COVID-19 is meant to get students back in school in person 5 days a week.
Of South Carolina’s 1,266 public schools, only 646 are offering face-to-face instruction, according to the S.C. Department of Education. An additional 589 are offering a hybrid model of in-person and online instruction and 31 schools are still only holding class virtually.
The state Senate last week unanimously passed a resolution to move teachers, school support staff and daycare workers up to Phase 1A of vaccine distribution, with the caveat that schools offer five days a week in person by the Monday after spring break.
Around the country, 28 states and Washington, D.C. have made all or some teachers and school staff eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Reopening schools has been seen as a key to allowing the economy to fully reopen.
The Centers for Disease Control last week released guidelines for schools to reopen which include universal mask wearing, social distancing, hand washing, facility cleaning, and improving ventilation.
However, testing and vaccinating teachers were not part of the guidelines.
The Palmetto State Teachers Association argued cases are still high in the state, and few if any schools in the state could maintain 6 feet of social distancing with the increased student attendance associated with five day, face-to-face instruction.
“Science should be used to inform policy making, not cherry picked to support a political agenda,” the PTSA said in a statement.
Gov. Henry McMaster has been against the idea of moving teachers up in the vaccine line saying schools have access to the necessary personal protective equipment to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within schools.
The PTSA said the state doesn’t have to choose between vaccinating teachers and seniors.
“However, vaccine access in Phase 1A does not have to be an ‘either-or‘ proposition between the elderly and educators. Instead, our state leadership must find a way to prioritize both groups,” the PTSA said.
A study by the Medical University of South Carolina found minimal spread of COVID-19 in schools.
McMaster does not want any delays with seniors receiving the vaccine because they are more likely to die from the respiratory disease.
The AARP of South Carolina argued most of the people who died from the virus are people 65 and older, and added African Americans are more likely to die as well.
“I hope that you will make sure that the most vulnerable to disease and death from COVID continue to be the focus of vaccine delivery,” AARP SC State Director Teresa Arnold told House members on Tuesday. “Canceling current appointments for the first vaccines for the 65 (and older) is a little like Russian Roulette.”
Other groups testified their workers are unable to socially distance when carrying out their work.
Ronald Summers, the CEO of the Palmetto Agribusiness Council, gave the case for food production workers who are in rural areas, or are in the food processing part of the industry and have to work in close quarters with one another.
“The bottom line is, as we start to consider the priority of vaccines, we need to make sure our South Carolina policymakers understand that our largest industry needs your support,” Summers said.
Some state agencies pleaded to be kept in mind when making prioritization of who is eligible for the vaccine.
Transportation Secretary Christy Hall said it’s important for road workers to stay healthy. But some of those jobs don’t allow for social distancing or working from home such as plowing roads, patching potholes, or carrying out road construction projects.
She argued her organization is critical to keeping motorists moving in the state, and said some parts of her agency don’t have any employees who could serve as backups.
“I think there are numerous examples of that I’m sure every agency has and every agency head is trying to battle these same issues,” Hall said. “I just ask you continue to the approach of looking at the most vulnerable within the population and government services and looking at the bench depth that DHEC has previously mentioned.”
Motor Vehicles Executive Director Kevin Shwedo called for his employees to be moved up to phase 1B from phase 1C of vaccine distribution.
His employees cannot socially distance when conducting road tests, and DMV workers each interact with at least 50 people a day. About 215 employees of his 1,300 employees have had COVID-19, with an additional 1,000 employees who have to had to quarantine because of exposure.
“Since the beginning of this crisis, my team has been key and essential. We have been there the entire time,” Shwedo said. “If I remain 1C, and I continue at the exposure rates that we’ve got right now, I can’t guarantee you that I’ll be able to provide those key and essential services.”
This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 12:32 PM.
