Salem Superintendent Says To Stay Tuned On Educator Vaccinations

SALEM, MA — The push to have educators move up the coronavirus vaccination priority list may not be over in Massachusetts.

A week after Gov. Charlie Baker responded to a request from 29 North Shore district superintendents and teacher union presidents to have educators moved into phase 1 of vaccine eligibility by actually ticking them down behind certain age brackets in the revamped phase 2, which set to begin Monday, Salem Superintendent of Schools Stephen Zrike said during his weekly Facebook Live session on Wednesday that he was told there will be "more information from the state" coming by the end of the week on the issue.

"Certainly, our teachers and staff are eagerly awaiting more information and we'll be sharing that with them as soon as we know it," Zrike said.

Zrike reiterated the "North Shore Superintendents' Round Table" letter’s assertion to Gov. Baker that teachers should be considered "essential workers" and receive vaccine prioritization.

"We are advocating, as you have seen on the news, for all of our staff to be moved up on the priority list," he said on Wednesday. "We think our staff are essential employees and they all should be eligible for the vaccine as soon as possible if we are going to be able to safely keep in-person school going, which we know all of us believe is essential."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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