Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
Millions of Pennsylvania seniors (including myself) and other at-risk Pennsylvanians are still waiting for just the opportunity to get a Covid-19 vaccine. Now that J&J's one-dose miracle has arrived in the Keystone Wolf, Governor Tom Wolf has announced he'll allocate the entire supply to ... teachers
Wolf is following the science. Not actual science. Political science. He's listening to the most powerful union in the country instead of sending the vaccine to those who need it most.
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.
Make up your minds. You want kids back in school fulltime? Get the teachers vaccinated. You want schools to stay remote or hybrid? Teachers go back to waiting in line.
ReplyDeleteGet back to work, period. Or give me a rebate on my school taxes.
Delete1:32 Teachers were never not working. They are teaching everyday in a very difficult situation. Most districts are hybrid and teachers are working with students in person and remotely 4 days a week and entirely remotely 1 day a week. Know the facts before you bluster.
DeleteCall Shoprite Pharmacy Bethlehem let the phone ring until someone picks up. Get on the list. My wife did this and gets her second dose Saturday. We got that information from that group you posted about a month ago. There is other ways they have listed. Most people are having success. BTW my understanding is that teachers are first in line for J&J, not the other ones. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteYes, teachers, ( as much as I’m critical of lots of issues with public schools ) are at the head end of exposure rate . Teachers are in the proximity of each individual household in effect ,from those kids household exposure. They carry anything that the other 4-5 people in that household carry. . So the teachers risk becomes exponentially higher than people that can limit their exposure to a few others per week. Remember in class what you would only see on a surface under a black light ? Well, it kind of like that , Corona , as well as other viruses exist on different surfaces or materials for different periods of time. I see employees wiping stuff down, but with what? We need to know the specific spray limitations. Some compounds are 3 minutes wet , then wipe surface ,so wiping off the table top immediately under this specific direction of use ,limits the effects . Now is not the time for complacent mental thought about risk.
ReplyDeleteTeachers think they are prima donna's. They are JUST regular people, no different than you and me! Give it FIRST to the people that REALLY need it - the sick and elderly! They are and always will be cry babies.
ReplyDeleteThere’s only 3 months left in the school year. They should get in line like the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteJ&J is "morally compromised"!
ReplyDeleteThe science shows teachers are safe to go back to work without vacine as has police officers,grocery store staff and healthcare workers that work directly with patients who were sick before the vaccine was available. This is certainly a tough decision however the most at risk should get the vaccine first. This is pure union politics and is disgusting
ReplyDeleteYes...because it's the elderly who will provide more for society than teachers? Teachers, law enforcement, and hospital workers should get it first. Those who need to resume in person activities should get it first. Elderly people, while vulnerable, have less contact with other people and therefore should be near the bottom of the list.
ReplyDeleteThis comment is what is wrong with our country right now. So I guess when you are elderly you won't mind just dying.... Such compassion.
DeleteIf you want the economy to open then vaccinate the teachers. If you want to play politics then complain about the teachers union. Thank God they have a powerful union, it keeps the middle class grounded. Those of us 65+ need to keep the masks on and stay at home for a couple of months longer, the all will be fine.
ReplyDeleteEveryone wants to prioritize getting kids back in school. This is how to get it done.
ReplyDeleteIf we want the quickest route to normalcy it would be to have parents being able to have their children back in school again. Giving the shots to the teachers not only protects the teachers but helps prevent the teachers from spreading it to the students who then carry it home to parents whom then spread it further. Perhaps they should include those 65+ who are still in the work force, but otherwise I think they are proper in giving the vaccine to those most likely to have super-spreader potential.
ReplyDeleteThis is sheer nonsense and is being done to appease the teachers' union, not because they are under high risk. They say listen to the science. The science says those who are 65 plus and who have underlying health conditions should have priority. They are shifting to another group simply bc that group is politically active. This is disgraceful. I want schools open, but I expect the vaccine to be administered to those who really need it.
ReplyDeleteTeachers are not at high risk Bernie?? I call BS. If you want schools fully open, you're talking 26 or more students in a class all day. No way social distancing is happening there, in the hallways, or at lunch. You've created lots of super-spreader events unless there are more vaccinations of ALL staff. BTW, the shots are for ALL staff not just teachers...bus drivers, instructional aides, etc. Again, you want the schools entirely open? This is a way to make it happen. But it seems to be all about you Bernie.
DeleteThis is one of the very few decisions made by PA government during the entire pandemic that I actually mostly agree with. Putting the J&J vaccine into the general rotation of vaccines would have been a nightmare, with people declining the J&J vaccine because of it's perceived inferiority to the other two and making distribution VERY complicated. The best way to solve this was to choose one previously ineligible subclass to receive the J&J vaccine and, while I certainly understand that others have valid cases that they should have been included, teachers make as much sense as anyone else. As long as the program quickly moves to also include first responders and other front line workers after the first wave, this plan is probably the best alternative until enough vaccinations are available for everyone who wants one. I see a short-term strategy developing of offering the J&J vaccine to younger, healthier individuals who are at high risk for disease due to their exposure, while the other two vaccines are offered to individuals who are at highest risk for severe COVID/death.
ReplyDeleteSchools should never have been closed. School kids' death rates are 0.001%. Teachers age <60 death rate is 0.014%. How many kids have died from suicide, overdose and abuse the past 12 months? It's a lot more than 0.001%. If the elderly are a concern, and death rates show they certainly are, why would any teacher with an ounce of heart jump the line in front of a single older person? That's just effing cruel. Also, 11 kids per day across the US die in car crashes related to cell phone use. If only there was as much concern for things that ACTUALLY kill kids. CoViD does not. Putting a single teacher in front of a single 65+ person is dangerous and disgusting.
ReplyDelete"Teachers are not at high risk Bernie?? I call BS."
ReplyDeleteIn other words, you choose to ignore the phased allocation of vaccines as originally set forth by the CDC on the basis of the health risks involved. I have high regard for teaching as a profession. This has nothing to do with their profession, which I admire. They belong in Phase 2, and should not be permitted to jump top the front of the line when so many others are more at risk.
Listen to the real science, not political science.
"Yes...because it's the elderly who will provide more for society than teachers?"
ReplyDeleteThank you for your concern for the most vulnerable amongst us. You must be a teacher. The Hell with the old, give the faux professionals the shots first. They will probably demand an incentive as well.
HA! I bet these teachers are all staying at home and avoiding the supermarkets, gas stations, liquor stores or any other retail location. My brother and sister in law are teachers and they don't behave any differently than you or me. Bernie is right. Its politics pure and simple.
ReplyDeleteIf teachers faced the risk of bad air, the roof collapsing or substandard pay, I'd worry not about their union. Teachers unions protect and promote mediocracy.
3:06 when is the last time you were in a public school classroom. Go visit one and then talk about how easy a teacher's job is. Your ignorance is showing.
Delete1.26
ReplyDelete"phased allocation of vaccines as originally set forth by the CDC on the basis of the health risks involved"
try
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations.html
CDC made this recommendation on December 22, 2020.
Phase 1b
----"public transit workers, and those who work in the educational sector (teachers, support staff, and daycare workers.)
folks 64 and older are 1c phase.
so the 65+ crowd was after teachers all along
the age group of 75+ is in the 1b phase.
I have rejected a comment suggesting that CDC guidelines permit teachers top be vaccinated now. They don't. We are currently in Phase 1a. That does not include teachers. I find it outrageous that they would actually be given priority over health care workers.
ReplyDelete525
ReplyDeletetry
"CDC recommends that initial supplies of COVID-19 vaccine be allocated to healthcare personnel and long-term care facility residents. This is referred to as Phase 1a. Phases may overlap. CDC made this recommendation on December 3, 2020.
Phase 1b Frontline essential workers and People aged 75 years and older
Phase 1c People aged 65—74 years and People aged 16—64 years with underlying medical conditions and Other essential workers,
Healthcare workers are 1a
teachers are in 1b
Healthcare workers were always first in the guidelines so no need to be outraged
I am sick and tired of hearing about the plight of teachers. Tell them to go back in the classroom right ,now or risk being fired. The vast majority of teachers are underworked and overpaid. Easton SD is now planning to raise school taxes again .And im supposed to get up in the wee hours most days to work in the factory while these teaching mutants complain about working conditions ? I bet the female teachers are actually sitting at home watching TV and eating pompoms so that each of their collective asses gets big enough to land a helicopter on.
ReplyDeleteThe state Dept. of Health groups are here: https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/disease/coronavirus/Vaccine/Pages/Vaccine.aspx.
ReplyDeleteSome of what has been said here is in conflict with that.
6:29 If you want teachers back in the classroom you should support them getting priority over retirees when it comes to vaccines. Especially the j&j one.
ReplyDeleteTeachers who accept the vaccine before every elderly person gets it are sick and disgusting human beings. Gorillas and teachers are jumping the line in front of old people. That's all you need to know about teachers unions, one of the worst scars in US history. Sending kids to public schools is child abuse.
ReplyDeleteI see many teachers out and about with masks like the rest of us. They are scared off getting the virus while they are out paying taxpayer money (that includes the elderly, who they are jumping in line ahead of). Teachers are nothing but entitled cry babies.
ReplyDeleteHi, 6:29 pm,
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting so that I may blow holes through a lot of what you said. First, teachers ARE back, with most public schools operating on a four-day in-school, one day remote schedule. Parochial schools have shined throughout this pandemic because most Diocese of Allentown schools are five-days a week. Your griping about a tax increase is fine, because we all to that, but an increase, such as the one proposed by Easton would equate to a couple of nights of take-out. Not a big sacrifice when you consider your community is being educated and today’s students will one day hold jobs to help support you. Also, I don’t know of any teacher who eats pompoms, though a few may eat bonbons. What I do know is that any teacher worth his/her salary would rather be in school full-time and teaching a class of 30, than following a hybrid/remote model. Like it or not, schools are a breeding ground for germs. Children and teachers may be at low risk, but the CDC has cautioned children are carriers. (Data and recommendations changing daily doesn’t help, I know.
As for the vaccination, I don’t want it, but am required to get it. Sadly, the distribution model has created terrible animosity because of the pecking order it has created. There should be enough vaccines to go around so the worth of one group over another isn’t debated.
Thank God for teachers and their union. It is because of the teachers union strength that many of you make a decent wage. If you want to save on taxes then vote to get rid of charter schools, they are useless and not held accountable. They steal monies away from the school district.
ReplyDeleteAs for the vaccine, it should be a requirement for employment for everyone, just like the flu shot for our health care workers. None of the antivaccers bs. Then those who do not want to take the vaccine can work in those undesirable places like charter schools.
I think Tricia should get hers before she goes to jail
ReplyDelete"It is because of the teachers union strength that many of you make a decent wage."
ReplyDeleteAnd all this time I thought teachers were about educating kids because that's what their slick TV commercials tell us. BlueAnon teachers are acting more inhumanely than usual because they know they've overplayed their hand and are more despised than ever. They have no graceful off ramp, after sacrificing kids to ODs and suicides over a virus that threatened neither teachers nor students.
7:02 I'm sorry you have the hardest job in the world. I've walked a mile in your shoes so don't act like you have a monopoly on the pain and suffering of being a teacher. Such 1st world problems with you people. I wonder if your garbage man takes pity on your unfortunate plight in life. get a grip.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a tour in Afghanistan would help your frayed nerves.
1:30 If you could handle the job as a teacher then you would be one. It is probably the most unappreciated profession in America. As far as professional salaries they are paid the least amount of money.
ReplyDeleteIn PA they are all master degree employees who get very little respect as compared to other civilize countries. Teachers are about teaching kids and not your personal babysitters. Education starts at home. It would behoove you to sit in on a class at a public school to feel their reality.
8:26 "If you could handle the job as a teacher then you could be one" Absolutely! If you believe this is the case, why are you bitching about how miserable it is?
ReplyDeleteIf I take the number of hours I work in a year, as a salaried professional and compare it to the number of hours a union protected teacher works, It would be laughable. My wife and I did the math with her sister who teaches guidance. She didn't realize how much she was making an hour.
Your last paragraph is just a regurgitation of union talking points. Maybe you should look within to find the answer on why there is no respect?
Enjoy that guaranteed tax payer funded pension!