From the National School Boards Association (NSBA):
Education Week (9/24, Blad) reports a HHS plan released Sept. 16 outlines “how it will quickly work with states to distribute doses when an effective vaccine is identified.” The first wave of vaccinations “may include people with health vulnerabilities, the elderly, and health care providers who work with COVID-19 patients.” Next, the second wave “may include people at increased risk of acquiring or transmitting COVID-19, which includes employees of schools, child-care centers, colleges, and universities.” Such a proposal will “help address concerns of educators in some areas who’ve expressed hesitation about returning to in-person learning while virus rates remain high.” The federal plan also calls on states and local health officials to work with a variety of organizations, including schools, to provide vaccines to the general public as quickly as it comes available.
Education Dive (9/23, Modan) reports HHS Assistant Secretary Brett Giroir testified Wednesday during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing that the federal government will ship “millions of tests per week” to help schools reopen and stay open in the coming weeks. Education Dive says quick and accurate testing has been “a key obstacle as schools nationwide push to reopen this fall or later in the academic year.”
