You are really not paying attention then.
Two weeks the head of the CDC issued a statement in which she said schools are safe to reopen. Jen Psaki was asked about this the day after and she said the director was speaking in her own person position (even though it was a CDC press conference). This past Friday at 5 PM, the CDC changed the reopening policies for schools in which they admitted that took advice from teachers on what the policies would be.
This is blatant political manipulation of the CDC.
What the CDC director said is NOT "schools are safe to reopen" the remarks were around a question regarding vaccination priorities and teachers and the statement was that "there is
increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen". Also, she said
"taken under recommendation guidance from the states" regarding the prioritization of vaccines NOT "advice from teachers on what the policies would be". And, the latest CDC guidance did NOT contradict the statements made about schools and teacher vaccinations. Just the opposite, the guidance was in agreement with Walensky’s statement that schools could reopen before teachers had been vaccinated. If you think that I'm not paying attention that's fine, but let's get the facts straight.
Question:
Great. I wondered if we could get an update on vaccine prioritization. I know under the previous administration this was largely left up to states to decide when they wanted to move to the next levels of priority. But we’re seeing a lot of states open this up for teachers, and it’s kind of created a patchwork. And I just wondered if the federal government would be working more closely with states to kind of get more vaccinations to teachers in particular so that schools can reopen in the fall.DR. WALENSKY: Yeah, thank you for that question. You know, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has created these guides — this guidance for how we should be thinking about prioritizing among all essential workers and all of the population at large.
You know, those have been taken under recommendation — guidance from the states, and then the states are creating their own individual plans. And, you know, those plans have to, sort of, be in sync with how they are able to titrate, really, their supply versus the number of people who are wanting it. We don’t want to be too prescriptive so that they have these queues of people, and yet we don’t want to be too open so that they also have queues of people. We don’t want to have too much supply on the shelf.
So we’ve left that to the states to manage, in terms of recognizing the prioritization of ACIP, but also manage at their own local level.
That said, I want to be very clear about schools, which is: Yes, ACIP has put teachers in the 1b category, the category of essential workers. But I also want to be clear that there is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely.
So while we are implementing the criteria of the Advisory Committee and of the state and local guidances to get vaccination across these eligible communities, I would also say that safe reopening of schools is not — that vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for safe reopening of schools.
MR. ZIENTS: Yeah, let me just add here. You know, President Biden has been very clear that he wants schools to reopen and actually to stay open. And that means that every school has the equipment and the resources to open safely — not just private schools or schools in wealthy areas, but all schools. And that’s why we need the American Rescue Plan passed now. It includes money to get schools better access to testing, enables smaller class sizes, acquire the necessary ventilation, ensure everyone has PPE, and that schools are properly sanitized. It also includes much-needed funds to support the learning and social, emotional needs of our kids in what has been an extremely, extremely difficult year. So again, Congress has to do its part in order to make sure that we can safely reopen schools and keep them open.Is there muddled messaging coming from the administration? Yes there is. That does not equate to "blatant political manipulation of the CDC". If anything, it shows that the CDC director isn't being muzzled; that the administration is new; and that getting information out unfiltered is a higher priority right now than everyone singing from the same hymnal.
Like I said, messaging has benn muddled. For an editorial critique of that muddled messaging you can read commentary here from yesterday...
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-02-18/editorial-covid-19-school-reopening
