OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington state is getting ready to move into Phase 1B, and according to the Washington State Department of Health (DOH), it could happen in a matter of days. DOH says is you’re in Phase 1A and haven’t gotten your vaccine, make an appointment now.
As a reminder, Phase 1B is for people over 70 years old and people who are 50 years old living in a multigenerational household.
On Washington lawmaker, Senator Brad Hawkins, a Republican representing the 12th legislative district, is calling on Gov. Jay Inslee to add teachers to the Phase 1B group. Hawkins is a ranking Republican member on the Education Committee and is a former school board member.
“By the time some of these employees could be vaccinated, we are basically looking at the end of the school year,” Hawkins said.
He says some teachers fall under category 1B due to age, but not all of them are. Hawkins is saying based on the timeline, younger school employees would have to wait until April.
“We need our school system to get back to normal,” Hawkins said. “It’s not going to be getting back to normal until it’s fully functioning– I think the best way to do that is to help all of the school employees who are helping the state fulfill its paramount duty regarding education to get them protected from this virus.”
Hawkins went on to explain that when he’s talking about school employees he means teachers, support staff, and district administrators.
This call to action has received widespread support across Olympia and from the teachers union.
We reached out to the governor’s office and a spokesperson said: “Vaccinating all school staff is still a high priority, but moving all educators – including healthy young ones – ahead of individuals with underlying health co-morbidities would be risking more deaths. If we can increase our supply from the federal government, we may be able to move up the timeframe for all educators and school staff.”
Hawkins believes that there is an avenue to accomplish this and is calling on the governor to take executive action.
Asking that Feb. 1 be named as ‘School Employee Vaccination Day’ and for the Department of Health to allow school districts and health care providers at the local level to coordinate access for any school employee who wishes to get vaccinated.
“I do realize older Washingtonians do deserve to be prioritized,” Hawkins said. “What I am saying is that the school employees on the front lines, delivering an essential service should be prioritized alongside those older Washingtonians.”
As of Jan. 11, Washington has given over 200,000 total doses of vaccine out, this includes both first and second doses.
