Prioritizing teachers in the distribution of Covid vaccines will continue to be a challenge until more doses are available, said Andy Slavitt, senior adviser on the White House Covid-19 Response Team, Wednesday.
President Joe Biden has made reopening the National Schools for Personal Education one of his top priorities.
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines stating that teachers do not need to be vaccinated to safely reopen schools, but states must prioritize teachers access to Covid vaccines.
Slavitt said governors have to make “tough decisions” when juggling the distribution of vaccines to groups including seniors, nursing home workers and teachers.
“We’re trying to support them as best we can with science, but until the deficit is resolved, we’ll still face these challenges,” Slavitt told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith.”
The question of whether teachers should be vaccinated before returning to class has been a flashpoint in the discussion about reopening personal instruction.
Vice President Kamala Harris said on the Today Show Wednesday morning, “Teachers should be a priority.”
During a briefing on Wednesday, White House Covid-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said that while Biden and Harris believe that teachers and other frontline workers should be in the front line to receive vaccines, they both agree. the CDC said that vaccinating teachers is “not a requirement to reopen schools.”
The CDC guideline also advises schools to tailor reopening plans to the severity of the outbreak in their communities. The agency also recommends that schools preserve “essential elements” for personal learning, including wearing a mask, taking physical distance, and monitoring the spread in the environment.
“If this were easy, it would happen,” Slavitt told CNBC. “We’re focused on getting kids and teachers back to school – not whether we should do that, but how. And that’s what I think set the CDC plan.”