Teachers Union President Says She Supports Vaccine Mandates for Teachers

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said on Sunday she supports vaccine mandates for teachers.

With schools open in the fall, and vaccines being mandated by many businesses across the country, there was some question of whether teachers should be mandated to get the vaccine. Weingarten initially did not support mandates, but signaled an openness to it in the past week.

She told Chuck Todd on Meet the Press, “On a personal matter, as a matter of personal conscience, I think that we need to be working with our employers, not opposing them, on vaccine mandates.”

Weingarten said that right now 90 percent of members have gotten the vaccine, but now “circumstances have changed” and this is a “community responsibility.”

“This is a public health crisis. And the politics are infecting it. But I felt the need as, you know, to bring people together and to stand up and say this as a matter of personal conscience,” she added.

Todd brought up recent data about covid-19 cases among children in the United States, and asked, “Should there be an elementary school teacher in America that’s allowed to teach children in class that isn’t vaccinated?”

Weingarten said there are religious objections and exemptions that should be accommodated, pointing to what the president did for federal workers. President Joe Biden said that all federal workers must be vaccinated, and if not they must continue masking and be subject to regular testing.

You can watch the segment above, via NBC.