DALLAS — The state of Texas followed federal guidance Wednesday and expanded the list of people eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine to include teachers and childcare providers.
There are more than 350,000 teachers across the state, and waiting lists for vaccines are already long.
Dallas County has more than 730,000 names on its waiting list.
Tarrant and Denton Counties report more than 300,000 names each.
As of a few weeks ago, Collin County’s waiting list had been closed with more than 250,000 names on it.
“The fact of the matter is, we now have access,” said Eric Hale, a Dallas ISD teacher who is the reigning Texas Teacher of the Year.
“We’ve been at the front of the line on this battle to close the achievement gap during a global pandemic all year,” he said.
Hale has lost three family members to COVID and said he felt a “sigh of relief” when he heard teachers had been deemed eligible.
So did Richardson ISD Superintendent Jeannie Stone.
“I am ecstatic,” she said.
Stone had been publicly lobbying for weeks to get teachers moved up on the priority list.
She even tweeted her wishes at 3:48 a.m. one February day, admitting later she had been losing sleep worrying about her employees.
“Maybe I’ll stop losing sleep now,” she said Wednesday.
Stone said the news was a welcome relief after Tuesday’s surprise announcement that Gov. Greg Abbott was lifting his statewide mask mandate.
The Texas Education Agency later issued guidance that schools should still require masks, but districts can opt out if approved by their school boards.
Stone said masks will remain mandatory on Richardson ISD campuses through the end of the school year.
She also said the district wanted to help teachers try to find vaccines, and if they land an appointment during a school day, the school will find someone to cover their class for them.
“I just hit send a little while ago to all our 5,000 employees giving them all the links to all the sites and websites they need to go and register and sign up so that it would be all in one place,” Stone said. “I sent them another link to see all the participating pharmacies. And hopefully, that’s what they’re doing right now.”
Hale said he was already on two waiting lists and was hoping to be bumped up in priority.
He thanked Abbott for making the move, saying teachers have carried the heavy burden of COVID-19 for an entire year and a vaccine will lighten the load.
“Not only have teachers and support staff and people who work in education shown how heroic they are,” Hale said. “More importantly, we’re human and we do go home to families.”