Days after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that Florida’s teachers and law enforcement officers who are 50 and older will be the next groups to get the coronavirus vaccine, the president of the local union representing Jacksonville’s teachers said the plan doesn’t go far enough, but it’s “better than nothing.”
In an interview on The Morning Show, Terrie Brady, president of Duval Teachers United, said teachers 65 and older have already been vaccinated, so expanding that to teachers 50 and older is the next phase, but it’s still more limited than her group would like to see.
“We’re dwindling the numbers down, but I still find it just hard to believe that there are certain individuals in this state government that don’t believe that our educators are frontline workers,” Brady said. “They’re required to be there, and they’re working with a diverse population every single day, and I might want to add, they’ve been doing that since August.”
DeSantis did not say specifically when the new groups will be able to get the vaccine, but he expects it to be soon through the recently added sites run by the federal government.
Currently, Florida limits vaccines to residents 65 and older and frontline medical providers such as doctors and nurses. Many firefighters also fell into that group because they are paramedics, but DeSantis said any who have not been eligible and are 50 and above will also be added to the next wave.
The unions representing the state’s police officers and teachers both said Tuesday the governor’s announcement is welcome news but does not go far enough. Both said the program needs to be quickly expanded to include all members of those professions, not just those 50 and older. At least 37 Florida educators and 27 law enforcement officers have died of COVID-19, according to the unions.
Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, said all teachers and staff, regardless of age, are at high risk and should be vaccinated as soon as possible, particularly those with health issues such as diabetes and asthma. There about 200,000 public school teachers and 100,000 support staff statewide and almost all of them are working on campus. The state also has more than 40,000 private school teachers and staff.
“The good news is that the governor is finally starting to listen to...what the medical and scientific community is saying — educators should be a priority,” Spar said. “I still think he's approaching it (vaccinations) incorrectly....The reality is that this virus attacks people who are at high risk and age is not the only risk.”
Brady also pointed to those vulnerable populations of teachers being constantly exposed through their work.
“I think we should have gone ahead and found a way to have a balance between the seniors who need it and all of our frontline employees. There’s a way to do a balance. Other states are doing it, and I don’t understand why Florida hasn’t,” Brady said.
She said the union will work with the local health department to get details about the federal vaccination site at Gateway Mall out to eligible teachers as soon as they become available.
