Teachers call on Gov. Lamont to speed up efforts to vaccinate school staff

Teachers are calling on Gov. Ned Lamont to speed up efforts to get school staffers vaccinated against COVID-19.

News 12 Staff

Feb 17, 2021, 11:16 PM

Updated 1,323 days ago

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Teachers are calling on Gov. Ned Lamont to speed up efforts to get school staffers vaccinated against COVID-19.
If things stay on schedule, vaccine clinics could start popping up at schools within weeks. Now, teachers are putting on the pressure to make sure it happens.
The Connecticut Education Association launched a new advertisement Wednesday to push for all school staff being vaccinated within weeks.
Teachers say Wednesday that they've waited too long.
"Right now this is not a healthy situation on many levels," says Harding High School teacher Sheena Graham.
Gov. Lamont says teachers could be called up for vaccines in just 10 days.
"We've got to see if the supply keeps up. I told you, it may be slowed-up due to snow," he says.
The next round includes all school workers. The CEA thinks everyone could be vaccinated in one month.
"That can include doing it in ways that schools have done for their teachers and staff on an annual basis for the flu shot," says CEA Executive Director Don Williams.
Among students and staff, COVID-19 cases are down more than 60% in one month. But the CEA says things could get worse.
"The new strains are much more contagious. And in some cases, especially it seems looking at the one from the UK, can be more problematic," says CEA President Jeff Leake.
The CDC says vaccines aren't necessary to reopen schools, but teachers say when one of them gets quarantined, it affects everyone else.
"The constant churn of being in and out of buildings due to the unplanned school closures is incredibly disruptive for students and their families," says Bunnell High School teacher Kristen Record.
The CEA says 80% of teachers are willing to get the vaccine.