Melanie Asmar of Chalkbeat reports that the the Mayor of Denver is requiring that all of the city’s school teachers and staff should be vaccinated, whether in public or private schools and universities. President Biden has ordered all federal employees to be vaccinated. Meanwhile, major businesses like Walmart are requiring their employees to be vaccinated.
Personally, I believe that everyone who is eligible to be vaccinated should be required to get the vaccine as a matter of public health. States that have passed laws to “protect the rights of the unvaccinated” are experiencing a surge in hospitalizations and deaths. Florida is leading the nation in new cases of COVID. Governor DeSantis is an outspoken defender of those who refuse vaccination.
Asmar begins:
School and child care personnel in Denver will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 30, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock announced Monday.
Hancock’s order applies to staff at all schools within the city of Denver, including public schools, private schools, colleges, and universities, said City Attorney Kristin Bronson.
In addition to school personnel, the order covers all city employees, people who work in high-risk occupations such as hospitals and long-term care facilities, and people who work in high-risk settings. School and child care personnel fall under the last category.
The order applies to all employees of Denver Public Schools, which is the state’s largest school district and serves more than 90,000 students. Denver Public Schools had nearly 15,000 employees last year, but that count did not include contract employees or employees at independent public charter schools who are also subject to the mayor’s order.
To be fully vaccinated by Sept. 30, employees will need to receive their final doses of the vaccine by Sept. 15. Employees who don’t comply “will not be permitted to work onsite or in the field,” according to a press release from the mayor’s office.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Makes sense!
In Pensacola some Ascension Sacred Heart hospital employees are protesting the employer vaccine mandate. They are calling it a “freedom fight.” A lot of them are carrying signs reading “My body, My right.” Interesting concept for Pensacola! Nevertheless, if they fail to comply by November 15, they will have the right to be unemployed.https://weartv.com/news/local/group-of-nwfl-hospital-employees-protest-against-vaccine-policy
BTW, DeSantis issued an “emergency voucher” to any students whose school requires that students wear masks.
interesting question: voucher to where? Private schools won’t be asking for masks?
Diane, would you mind adjusting the way you brand your blog so that it more explicitly raises NPE’s profile? For instance, could your tag line be adjusted from “A site to discuss better education for all” to “A Network for Public Education site to discuss better education for all?”
I find your posts and writing very helpful, but I realized that, despite your frequent mentions of NPE and other writers, I view Diane Ravitch as the entity I rely on. I suspect others do also. When I want to share your work, I want people to know that you’re one of many who support “better education for all.” (Or “better public education for all,” which may sound redundant, but is necessary given the billionaires’ opposition to public anything and approaches pushed in the73million.)
I hope you’ll consider it. Thank you.
I don’t think it is an NPE site. Diane’s blog existed long before she facilitated launching NPE. I’m not sure I understand what you want to accomplish.
Walmart vaccine for management yes, front line workers no. Same old BS
So evil
As a DPS employee who works in a school daily, I think this is overdue, but glad to see it being mandated. Both staff and students will be masked when we return in two weeks. I remember being surprised at how well K-5 students in my school adapted to daily mask-wearing, and don’t really understand the hyperbolic level of outrage about this in some places.
I can’t wait until there is a vaccine for elementary-age students. Once most adults are vaccinated and we get kids protected too, we can start to think about putting this behind us.
Wonderful comment! Thank you!
Yes, in so many cases it is not the kids but the parents who fuss about the mask mandate
This will become a pandemic not only of the unvaccinated, but of the people living under cruel and heartless elected officials like DeSantis of Florida and Abbott in Texas.
Thanks to Mayor Hancock for doing the right thing in protecting all Denver residents with this order.
This is not to ignore the fact that a small percentage of people have severe reactions to vaccines. But the benefit far outweighs the risk for the overwhelming majority of people.
The radical right conflates a twisted notion of “freedom” with necessary precautions in a public health emergency. As a result they put many lives in danger including members of their own families.
yup
Freedom, Tuskegee, RFK Jr., they all carry some weight. The virus doesn’t care.
Someone I know had an extreme reaction to the second Pfizer vaccine, with Botox-looking, swollen lips, crow-bar-type rashes all over the body, and intense itching for over a week. The reaction also seems to have worsened the person’s autoimmune disease, which had been under control for years. This is what some sensitive people are concerned about. Only strong steroids brought this reaction down, but there seems to be a lasting effect. Not everyone is “stupid” for being concerned about the vaccine’s effects. People have individual stories to listen to, not to dismiss en masse.
It’s true that some people may need exemptions from the vaccine, although your friend is now protected from an extreme case of COVID. Thirty percent of the eligible population, however, refuse to be vaccinated for ideological reasons, not health reasons.
Maybe this mostly unknown fact would scare Traitor Trump’s mindless MAGA minions to get the vaccine … or at least the men in that mob of lunatics and fascists.
“Erectile Dysfunction Risk 6 Times Higher in Men With COVID”
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20210407/erectile-dysfunction-risk-6-times-higher-in-men-with-covid#:~:text=COVID%2D19%20increases%20the,real%2Dlife%20setting.
Wait, shhh, don’t tell them. If all of the traitor’s male supporters do not get the vaccine, then many of those that do not die from the virus will never be able to have children.
Truth to the old adage “surivial of the fittest” – I take that to mean both mentally and physically and lunatics do not qualify.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/herbert-spencer-survival-of-the-fittest-180974756/
Good!
Does this apply to the 70% of COVID D patients (according to Reuters) who got it after being “vaccinated” ? The unvaccinated do so at their own peril. The risk to student’s lives is equal to dying in a bus accident. They are not spreaders. Yet, the complications of experimental drugs are horrific. The problems associated with masks, social-emotional learning. isolation and academic failure are enormous. Consider the costs. Let the staff be vaccinated if they desire and maintain hygiene standards.
Now, go ahead and spout your mindless, ruthless, and often disgusting adjectives. I have heard them all.
Ah, so you are one of those anti-adjective people.
Every statement made here–each and every one–is false, disconnected from reality, and/or bizarre.
Sorry, one of those is a participle, but that was true of your list (mindless, ruthless, disgusting) as well. LOL.
I searched high and low for that Reuters article you referenced to no avail. I did see many Reuters articles about Covid, including one from two days ago saying the rate of hospitalizations and death is 25 times higher for the unvaccinated. This science behind this shot is over a decade old, and has been given to millions without ill effect, so hardly experimental. It is a wonderful advancement. And what are those problems with masks? Isolation comes if we have to lockdown again, as does academic difficulty for some, and we will be closing up again if you won’t support vaccinations for all. You can’t just come and state demonstrably unsupported opinions as fact, then not cite sources. Too many scholarly types here.
So, so important!!!!
Vaccine mandates must become much, much more common!!!!
The longer we have large numbers of unvaccinated, the more mutations of the virus we shall see. If our unvaccinated rates remain as high as they are, it is very possible that the virus will stay widely enough in play for a strain to emerge that defeats our vaccines.
Think of that.
Back to square 1 without a vaccine.
This is the future being created for the rest of us by vaccine refuseniks.
Remember the principle that you can’t yell fire in a crowded theatre? Our how about this one: I don’t remember what judge or justice it was who wrote this, but the statements went something like this: “Every man’s home is his castle. Unfortunately, Mr. Smith’s castle is on top of Mr. Jones’s castle.” (that is, they lived in apartments, one atop the other)
And then there was John Stuart Mill, who wrote in On Liberty:
“The object of this Essay is to assert one very simple principle, as entitled to govern absolutely the dealings of society with the individual in the way of compulsion and control, whether the means used be physical force in the form of legal penalties, or the moral coercion of public opinion. That principle is, that the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.”
Your freedom ends where serous harm to others begins.
Bob,
Last year at this time you were advocating for fully remote education to lessen the risk that students would be infected. That risk is still there for all students under the age of 12. Have you changed your mind about that? If so, what changed your mind?
It has been reported that vaccines for children over 2 will be available this fall. Everyone should be vaccinated.
It would be good if all could be vaccinated, but this fall is too late in many jurisdictions. Atlanta public schools, for example, are already in session.
What I said again and again, TE, is that until all students are provided with N95 masks and all adults are vaccinated, schools should remain remote. I said this repeatedly. Now, I am not so sure. The vaccine reluctance of the Trumpish and/or Libertarian portion of our populace has made this thing linger at high levels so that we now have this Delta variant which clearly affects children even more strongly. So, my call would be remote learning until a children’s vaccine is available or, barring that, at a minimum, N95 masks for children and adults alike and all adults vaccinated.
Here are some selfies posted by hospital workers last year to show their faces after wearing well-fitting N-95 masks on a daily basis.
https://time.com/5807918/health-care-workers-selfies-coronavirus-covid-19
Let’s see. Hmmm.
Redness in face vs. dying or transmitting the disease to a family member who dies.
Difficult choice.
BTW, I was recently released from a hospital that, like most of our hospitals here in Flor-uh-duh, is overflowing with Covid-19 cases again. And, of course, with the Delta strain, we have seen a spike in children’s infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. Flor-uh-duh is ground zero for this now thanks to “Libertarian” Bobblehead Doll Ronald-dee-do-dah DeSantisssss.
@Bob. I hope you are recovering well from whatever you were in the hospital for.
“If our unvaccinated rates remain as high as they are, it is very possible that the virus will stay widely enough in play for a strain to emerge that defeats our vaccines.”
Not only that but I heard today that there is concern that the treatments we have developed may lose their effectiveness. The concern was with the effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies.
Thanks, Speduktr.
Problem is there are billions of people around the world who are not vaccinated and will never be vaccinated. Variants will continue to emerge, regardless of how many people in the U.S. are vaccinated or are wearing masks.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/are-we-creating-ideal-conditions-for-new-coronavirus-variants
More people vaccinated = fewer variants, emerging less quickly
Fewer people vaccinated = more variants, emerging more quickly
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/are-we-creating-ideal-conditions-for-new-coronavirus-variants
Randi Weingarten was on Morning Joe on Thursday. The host was pressing her to mandate vaccines for teachers – which is really not her job – it’s the local governments job to make those decisions. In the interview she stated that 90% of NEA members are already been fully vaccinated.
Teachers have a much higher vaccination rate than the public and many other job sectors.
https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/american-federation-of-teachers-president-says-union-considering-all-options-including-possible-vaccine-mandate-117966917511
90% of teachers vaccinated is not enough. It should be 100%.
exactly. This needs to be mandated.
I agree, Diane, unless there is a prohibiting medical condition which would lead to an allergic reaction.
We all have to pitch in to end this nightmare. It is being socially responsible.
Hello Diane and everyone,
I’ll go one further. I think everyone in schools- students and staff- should have to disclose whether they’ve been vaccinated or not. This should be public information. Teachers and staff should know who is vaccinated. Why not?
I agree. We should know who has not been vaccinated so we can be sure they wear masks.
I have reached the end of patience with the unvaccinated. I was horrified to discover LAUSD has not mandated the vaccine, but has instituted weekly testing for all, vaccinated and unvaccinated. I can only hope some eager statistician will collate the infection differences in the two groups. Just this week I lost a friend to Covid, who was fearful of her reaction after reacting badly to a flu shot years ago, and just found out another friend has a toddler grandson in the hospital with Covid because the unvaccinated teacher caught it and spread it to her daycare class. I am furious that anyone would dare to put her students in danger! I am done with the people who refuse to have the basic social decency, even when our kids’ health is at stake. I fully support vaccine mandates, and hope they become widespread.
It is such a controversial question about vaccination. On the one hand the government says that vaccination is voluntary, on the other hand without it you will not be allowed to work and education. To tell the truth, earlier I couldn’t understand this position because any person should manage his life himself, but now, when I read about statistics when mortality among unvaccinated exceeds mortality among vaccinated I was getting scared. Now I think that it is not so wrong to make all employees be vaccinated, especially all school staff and employees who work in some hospitals and clinics, because the first category works with children whose organism is immanuate, and the second one always contacts sick people. I hope very much that vaccination will be able to protect us, not to cause harm.
// Marina Teramond @ NMPL