全国约9000家药店为教师和儿童保健人员提供疫苗预约，尽管他们所在的州尚未宣布他们符合条件。
推动每个教育工作者在本月注射第一剂疫苗是乔·拜登总统的一部分最新指令旨在通过使用直接向药店运送药物的联邦政府项目撬开教室。
管理该项目的疾病控制和预防中心，宣布努力在其网站上。截至周三上午，CVS参与该计划的药店之一-已经更新了网站注意到“教师和儿童保健工作者”现在有资格在每个州报名参加疫苗注射。
拜登在周二晚上的一次演讲中宣布了这一倡议，宣布美国现在有望在5月底之前为所有成年人提供足够的疫苗。
官员们警告说，尽管注射需要时间。
“30多个州已经采取措施，优先考虑接种疫苗的教育工作者。今天，我使用联邦政府的全部权力。我正在指示每个州都这样做，”拜登说。
他后来补充说:“我对所有州、地区和哥伦比亚特区的挑战是:我们希望每个教育工作者、学校工作人员、儿童保育工作者在3月底前至少接受一次注射。”。
艾琳·梅斯拉尔/路透社
药房经理贾梅·斯特纳特卡为25岁的学前教师摩根·迪丰索接种疫苗，对抗丙
这一努力是在白宫和疾控中心都承认教师不需要接种疫苗就能安全返回学校的情况下做出的。这就提出了一个问题，即拜登的举措是否与公共卫生无关，而是与重开学校的政治有关——这是一项广受欢迎的举措——同时满足了一些教师工会的要求。
建议拜登过渡的传染病专家塞琳·古德(line Gounder)表示，她不支持优先考虑教师，因为学校可以是安全的工作环境，有其他缓解措施。她说，这也可能让更弱势的有色人种更难获得机会，并称之为“反公平”举措。
拜登宣布后，她周二晚间在推特上写道:“对从事关键基础设施工作的黑人和棕色人种的评估到此为止。”。
当被问及这些批评时，白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基说，该项目不仅仅是为教师接种疫苗，还包括公共汽车司机、门卫和儿童保育工作者，他们往往是多样化的。此外，重新开放教室也有助于有色人种社区。
普萨基周三表示:“让孩子们重返校园是我们可以采取的最公平的步骤之一，因为我们从统计数据中看到，由于各种原因，黑人和拉丁美洲学生正不成比例地经历学习损失，”包括缺乏互联网接入和资源较少的家庭。
“所以，我们的观点实际上是，这一步是为了帮助有色人种社区，帮助那些已经因学校关闭而处于极度弱势的学生，”她补充说。
如果有其他选择的话，老师们就不用去药房了。疾病预防控制中心在其网站上指出，除了现有的州和地方新冠肺炎疫苗接种点之外，还将向教育工作者提供9000个药房位置，如果这些州已经提供的话疫苗敬老师。
疾控中心还表示，州和地方官员仍将决定其他人群的资格。
“此外，除了覆盖全国的教师，各州和地区还将根据他们的疫苗接种计划选择哪些人群有资格通过该计划接种疫苗，”该机构说。
Teachers, child care staff nationwide can now sign up for vaccine shots under Biden's order
Teachers and child care staff are now being offered vaccine appointments at some 9,000 pharmacy locations nationwide, even if their state hasn't declared them eligible yet.
The push to get every educator their first vaccine dose this month is part of President Joe Biden'slatest directiveaimed at prying open classrooms by using a federally run program that ships doses directly to pharmacies.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which manages the program,announced the efforton its website. And as of Wednesday morning, CVS – one of the pharmacies participating in the program –had already updated its websiteto note that "teachers K-12 and child care workers" were now eligible to sign up for a vaccine shot in every state.
Biden announced the initiative on Tuesday evening in a speech announcing that the U.S. was now on track to have enough vaccine for all adults by the end of May.
Officials caution though it will take time to administer shots.
"Over 30 states have already taken step to prioritize educators for vaccination. And today, I'm using the full authority of the federal government. I'm directing every state to do the same," Biden said.
"My challenge to all states, territories, and the District of Columbia is this: We want every educator, school staff member, childcare worker to receive at least one shot by the end of the month of March," he later added.
The effort comes as both the White House and CDC acknowledge that teachers don't need to be vaccinated to return safely to school. That raises questions about whether Biden's move was less about public health and more about the politics of reopening schools -- a widely popular initiative -- while meeting the demands of some teachers unions.
Céline Gounder, an infectious disease expert who advised the Biden transition, said she didn't support prioritizing teachers because schools can be safe working environments with other mitigation measures. It also could make it tougher for more vulnerable populations of color to get their shot, she said, calling it an "anti-equity" move.
"So much for valuing Black and Brown people working in critical infrastructure jobs," she tweeted late Tuesday following Biden's announcement.
When asked about the criticism, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the program isn't just about vaccinating teachers, but also bus drivers, janitors and child care workers who are often diverse. Also, reopening classrooms helps communities of color too.
"Getting back kids back to school is one of the most equitable steps we can take because what we've seen statistically is that Black and Latino students are disproportionately experiencing learning loss for a variety of reasons," including lack of Internet access and families with fewer resources, Psaki said Wednesday.
"So, our view is actually that this step is one that is meant to help communities of color, help students who are already being disproportionately disadvantaged by schools being closed," she added.
Teachers wouldn't have to use the pharmacy locations if there's another option to them. The CDC notes on its site that the 9,000 pharmacy locations would be offered to educators in addition to existing state and local COVID-19 vaccination sites, if those states already offervaccinesto teachers.
The CDC also says that state and local officials will still determine eligibility for other populations.
"In addition, aside from reaching teachers nationwide, states and territories will also select which populations are eligible for vaccination through the program according to their vaccination plans," the agency said.
