Gov. Edwards: K-12 teachers to be vaccine eligible “relatively soon”

Photo courtesy of Governor Edwards' twitter feed

Governor Edwards says he will make an announcement “relatively soon” on expanding COVID vaccine eligibility to K-12 teachers and staff.  Edwards was optimistic teachers won’t have to wait for much longer because the state’s weekly vaccine allocation has been steadily increasing. 

Teachers unions are demanding teachers be vaccinated, but Edwards said the current priority groups are federal recommendations based on our demographics. 

“We take a particular look at who is going into the hospital here and who is dying because we want to make sure that we are preserving hospital capacity and saving lives with the limited amount of doses that we have,” said Edwards.

In the Southeast US only Arkansas and Alabama have made teacher’s fully eligible to receive the vaccine.  

Edwards said making teachers eligible right now wouldn’t mean they would immediately get vaccinated given our low supply. He compared the current situation to a funnel. 

“If the spout at the bottom does not get bigger and you just start putting more and more people into the top then everybody gets frustrated and nobody can get a vaccine and ultimately nobody is prioritized,” said Edwards.

528,000 Louisianans have received at least their first COVID vaccine dose.

This week’s vaccine allocation has been delayed due to the ongoing winter weather situation.