Aaron Tang ’24
Under a new presidential directive, EA teachers and educators nationwide will now be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Phase 1A. On Tuesday, March 2nd following President Biden’s directive for all states to prioritize educators for the vaccine, Governor Tom Wolf confirmed the decision to move Pennsylvania educators (K-12, private and public) to the 1A group in an effort to keep schools open for in-person learning for the rest of the school year.
While some Upper School teachers have already received both doses of the vaccine, most qualified due to their age, as according to health.pa.gov, “Persons ages 65 and older” are eligible for 1A. However, this new policy puts educators on the list for vaccine doses.
To organize the order of vaccination, people have been separated into different groups based on age, profession, and medical conditions. Each group has a number and letter, which indicate the priority (1A,1B,1C, 2A). Paul Sanders, assistant head of school, comments, “This could meaningfully change things for all of us. Fingers crossed”.
Lee Billmyer, Upper School English teacher, has received both doses of the vaccine, but the process it took was a little complicated. She went through various websites and finally got through at a medical center in Upland after her appointment at a different hospital was cancelled because they ran out. She mentions, “I am relieved and elated to be vaccinated but it had more to do with my age, because I’m 71, rather than the fact I am a teacher.”
Although teachers will not be able to be vaccinated, many eligible students are waiting to receive it. Sarah Groark ‘21, one of the two eligible students, says “I am in 1A and fall under the category of 16-64 year olds with high risk conditions.”
The vaccines, while not widespread yet, are showing promising results. Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, which use messenger RNA (mRNA) to transfer genetic code to cells to develop the correct antibodies, have a success rate of around 95% at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 infections after two doses. The alternative, Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine, has a different delivery system, which results in an 85% success rate preventing severe disease.
The vaccination process is constantly changing, and with more manufacturing companies making them, distribution should be much faster. While President Biden announced that the US should have enough vaccine supply for every adult by the end of May and 300 million Americans by the end of July, the process can be streamlined. As Billmyer notes, “The first dose was a snap, but let’s just say that for the second dose it is a good thing that I had Saturday to be home!”