Pa. Begins Vaccination Plan Focused on Teachers

Starting March 10, about 200,000 educators and support staff will receive the COVID-19 vaccine through the Pennsylvania's newest mass immunization plan.

Gov. Tom Wolf and the state's vaccine task force said March 3 that Pennsylvania's first 94,600 doses of Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine will be prioritized for teachers, administrators, bus drivers and other school support staff so that in-person instruction can resume full-time across the state.

A pharmacy partnership will earmark another 30,000 doses for the program, meaning a majority of workers could return to the classroom by the end of the month, Wolf said.

"We're basically saying to teachers, 'we want you to get back to teaching and we are going to make this [vaccine] available,'" Wolf told reporters on March 3. "The state can't force it ... but, if you've been offered a vaccine, you ought to be willing to go back to school."

The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency will partner with the state's 28 intermediate units to establish vaccination sites in each region and contact eligible workers. The Pennsylvania National Guard and AMI Expeditionary Healthcare will administer the shots.

The Food and Drug Administration recently approved the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and the first 2.8 million doses will hit states the week of March 8. Overall, deliveries of all three vaccines from the federal government to states will exceed 15 million in a slow and steady ramp-up to immunize 100 million Americans during the president's first 100 days in office.

"These vaccines are effective and safe ... ," said Sen. Art Haywood, D-Philadelphia. "And if the choice is being vaccinated or being one of the half-million people no longer on the planet, to me, the choice is clear."

Gov. Wolf also attempted to dispel concerns about the lower efficacy rate of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine seen during testing, saying that it's not less effective at preventing the worst symptoms of COVID-19.

"That should not be a concern," he said. "It's 100 percent effective in terms of hospitalization and 100 percent in prevention of death. There might be a slightly higher risk that you could feel some sickness, but it's 100 percent effective from keeping that illness from getting more serious."

The plan will operate alongside the state's Phase 1A, Gov. Wolf said, and will prioritize teachers and staff who work with younger children and special education students, who are more susceptible to learning loss and require child care without in-person instruction. The vaccination plan will then move to provide shots to those who work with middle and high school students. Child care workers will be included in the plan.