Still not enough vaccines for teachers in Washtenaw; should in-person teachers get priority?

Last Thursday, the Washtenaw Superintendents’ Association issued a statement calling for additional vaccine supplies for educators in Washtenaw County.

This was prompted by the results of the Michigan Education Association COVID-19 Vaccine Survey released Feb. 9, 2021. The report that of all the counties in the state, Washtenaw has the lowest percentage of K-12 educators vaccinated (or with vaccine appointments scheduled). While some counties have almost 90% of their educators vaccinated, Washtenaw has just over 25%.

Our neighboring county of Lenawee has just over 54% vaccinated and Jackson county has over 71%. This may not be an equal comparison as Washtenaw has over 13,500 school employees, many more than either Lenawee or Jackson, but, the other counties with large numbers of K-12 educators, all have a larger percentage vaccinated than Washtenaw. Macomb County has 54%, Oakland County has 67%, Montcalm County has just over 75%, and Kent County has almost 79%.

Manchester Community Schools has a higher percentage than Washtenaw overall. According to Superintendent Dr. Brad Bezeau, 41.41% of Manchester Community Schools staff have received the vaccine out of the 88.28% who want it. Some MCS staff have gotten the vaccine outside of the county. Bezeau pointed out that we are not the only district to have staff seek out the vaccine in other counties.

Although all K-12 educators are eligible to be vaccinated in the State of Michigan, in Washtenaw currently only school staff working with students with special needs and those over the age of 50 are being vaccinated through the county. According to the Superintendents’ Association, this represents 28% of school staff in the county.

Bezeau stated, “All of our Special Education and MCS staff over the age of 50 years old have either received or been offered the vaccine. The next focus group for schools will be early elementary staff as we progress through this process.”

Not only does Washtenaw have a large population of K-12 educators (phase 1B) compared to other counties, but we have a huge population of health care workers (phase 1A). The county doesn’t currently have enough vaccines to vaccinate everyone eligible.

Washtenaw County Health Department spokesperson Susan Ringler-Cerniglia explained, “Importantly and with regard to school employees, it is not a matter of us vaccinating slowly; it is because we do not have enough vaccines to vaccinate eligible people. Washtenaw has a very large number of school employees (as well as health care providers) and has not received enough vaccine to reach these eligible groups. We cannot allocate more vaccines to them because we simply don’t have the supplies.”

Washtenaw County doesn’t have comprehensive information on how well other counties are meeting vaccine demands. Ringler-Cerniglia  stated, “From what we hear in collaborative spaces and from the public, everyone is struggling with supply.” She could confirm though that smaller counties or counties with fewer health care providers and/or smaller groups in 1B have moved somewhat faster into 1B.

Complicating the picture is the fact that Ann Arbor Public Schools, the largest school district in Washtenaw and the fourth largest in the state, has been completely virtual all school year, while other districts, like Manchester, have been in-person. The Washtenaw Superintendents’ Association is not differentiating between the two in their call for more vaccines. They stated, “Whether we are fully in-person, hybrid, or fully remote, we all feel the urgency to do everything we can to reduce the risk for students and staff, which includes increasing our vaccination rate.”

However, the risk to teachers teaching in person is obviously much greater than the risk to those teaching remotely and this is not being taken into consideration in vaccination scheduling. This is because until recently, the county believed that Ann Arbor Public Schools would be returning to in-person learning during the next few weeks. Ringler-Cerniglia explained, “To date we had not prioritized within the eligible school employees based on virtual or in-person status and because of the understanding all would be moving to hybrid or in-person. If that is now not the case, it may be a reason to reconsider.”

To date, Manchester Community School has had eight staff members test positive for COVID-19.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.