Should Schools Reopen Before Teachers are Vaccinated? What Experts Think

• The CDC has released new guidelines on how schools can safely reopen.
• The mitigation practices include many of the procedures we’re already familiar with, such as mask wearing and physical distancing.
• But the practices don’t call for mandatory vaccination of teachers.

Controversy over whether schools should reopen arises again as the Biden administration prepares to release guidelines on how schools can reopen safely.

The administration isn’t expected to require teachers to get vaccinated before schools reopen.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its guidelines for an operational strategy that would help make it safe for grades K-12 to reopen. This is assuming the schools follow specific “mitigation practices,” such as keeping desks apart and increasing airflow.

The CDC released its guidelines for reopening schools on Feb. 12. These guidelines include five mitigation strategies for safely returning to in-person schooling:

• universal and correct wearing of masks
• physical distancing
• handwashing
• cleaning facilities and upgrading ventilation
• contact tracing, quarantining, and isolation

What the guidelines don’t call for, however, is the mandatory vaccination of teachers before reopeneing.

Instead the guidelines say “access to vaccination should not be considered a condition for reopening schools for in-person instruction.”