Fauci Says Schools Shouldn’t Wait on Every Teacher to Get Vaccinated

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday he did not believe schools should wait for every teacher to get vaccinated against Covid-19 before reopening.

“It’s become clear that that is not a sine que non,” Fauci said in a morning interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto. “I mean, you can’t say we’re not going to open any schools unless all the teachers get vaccinated.”

The comments come after guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday advised that K-12 schools reopen, citing, in part, the diminished rate of Covid-19 transmission among young people. But President Joe Biden has declined to endorse reopening, leading to criticism from Republicans, including Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan.

“The CDC says it’s safe to open schools,” Jordan wrote on Twitter on Monday. “So why does the ‘party of science’ want to keep schools closed?”

The issue also led White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki to rebuke CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky this month after Walensky said “safe reopening” didn’t require all teachers to be vaccinated. Psaki said at a White House briefing the next day that Walensky had been speaking in her “personal capacity,” not for the administration.

The president sought to align himself with the CDC’s guidance on Friday, saying in a statement the agency had provided “scientific evidence on how to reopen schools safely.” But the White House fell short of endorsing a timetable for the plan, saying it would be up to the next secretary of education — once the Senate confirms him — to work “alongside school administrators, educators, and parents to safely accelerate the process.”

“It would be very helpful, and all of us are very empathetic and we want the teachers to get vaccinated,” Fauci added. “They are a priority when it comes to essential personnel. But we think we can move forward as we vaccinate teachers but it doesn’t have to be that if they’re not vaccinated then you don’t open the school.

Watch above via CNN.