• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts

The Educators Room logo

  • Start Here
    • Impact Statements: Teacher Expertise
    • Newsletter
  • Browse Topics
    • Content Strategies
      • Literacy
      • Mathematics
      • Social Studies
      • Educational Technology
      • ELL & ESOL
      • Fine Arts
      • Special Education
      • Popular Topics
        • Teacher Self-Care
        • Instructional Coach Files
        • Common Core
        • The Traveling Teacher
        • The Unemployed Teacher
        • The New Teacher Chronicles
        • Book Review
        • Grade Levels
          • Elementary (K-5)
          • Middle (6-8)
          • Adult
          • New Teacher Bootcamp
          • Hot Button Topics
            • Menu Item
              • Principals' Corner
              • Charter Schools
              • Confessions of a Teacher
              • Interviews
              • The State of Education
              • Stellar Educator of the Week
            • Menu
              • How to Fix Education
              • Featured
              • Ask a Teacher
              • Teacher Branding
              • Current Events
  • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout- An 8 Week Course
    • Becoming An Educational Consultant
    • Teacher Branding 101:Teachers are The Experts
    • The Learning Academy
    • Books
    • Shirts
  • Education in Atlanta
  • Teacher Self-Care
  • The Coach's Academy
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts
×

April 27, 2021 COVID

It's Worth A Shot: A Teacher Reflects on Mandatory Covid-19 Vaccines

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Suzy Winter

Middle school Language Arts teacher in the private school sector and loving every moment of it. After 17 years of public school life, it is a welcome change, but I will always advocate and lift up my fellow educators. Our profession, no matter where the classroom, is not for the faint of heart, but for those who teach with all their heart.
  • The Secret Ingredients of Lesson Planning - May 18, 2022
  • Organizing Ideas from the Queen of Organized Chaos - April 28, 2022
  • Student Engagement Strategies From Disney World - April 8, 2022
  • What Teachers Can Learn From a Disney World Ride - April 1, 2022
  • Opinion: What Public Schools Can Learn From Private Schools - September 29, 2021
  • Check Your Toxic Positivity and Correct Your Word Choices - September 12, 2021
  • A Year Later After I Resigned From Teaching in a Pandemic - August 18, 2021
  • Survivor's Guilt and Collective Trauma in Returning Back to School in 2021 - June 30, 2021
  • Critical Race Theory: When the Texas GOP Tried to Stop Teachers From Teaching About Racism - June 7, 2021
  • Take a Sigh of Relief: End of the Year Reflection - May 21, 2021

When I began my teaching career, I had to follow several routine requirements to proceed:  fingerprinting, background checks, and vaccinations.  These are the basic required vaccinations:  

  1. Varicella-zoster;
  2. MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella);
  3. Seasonal influenza;
  4. Human papillomaviruses (HPV) (eleven through twenty-six years of age);
  5. Others as determined by the ACIP and state and local public health authorities.
  6. Tdap/Td;
  1. Recommended if a specific risk factor is present:
    1. Pneumococcal;
    2. Hepatitis A;
    3. Hepatitis B;
    4. Meningococcal;  

I had no hesitancy in making sure I met the requirements.  Today, the question is should districts or State education agencies add the COVID-19 vaccination to the list of required shots?   I believe it would be imperative for all employees working with students to be vaccinated.  This is a highly contagious virus, so why would you not want to take this precaution?  Besides, states have the legal right to enforce these requirements after the 1905 Supreme Court ruling, Jacobson v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts that states that individual liberty is not absolute.  With the potentiality of new strains coming down the pike, receiving this vaccine could provide your body a fighting chance.  

Ever since the beginning of this pandemic life, teachers have voiced their concerns over their safety returning to the classroom because of this virus.  The vaccine is one safeguard to help protect them.  In my mind, it is a no-brainer.  Yet, I know there is a bit of pause regarding the vaccine.  The number one concern I hear from associates (and news articles) is a fear that the vaccine will alter their DNA. 

This is a myth. 

According to an article in The Denver Post, this is what actually happens:  

“The new vaccines work with this amazing natural process. The vaccine contains a messenger RNA with instructions for a COVID surface spike protein. It’s like a borrowed recipe. The vaccine RNA works at the kitchen counter, the ribosome, to assemble a spike protein. The vaccine never interacts with a person’s DNA. After a few hours, the vaccine RNA, like the body’s regular RNA messengers, disintegrates. The spike proteins are released from the cell. The body’s immune system recognizes they don’t belong in the body and destroys them. The immune system is now prepared to recognize and respond when it encounters the real COVID-19 virus.”  The Denver Post -   

People are also caught up in other myths, so much that trusted organizations (AAFP - American Association of Family Physicians)  are addressing these issues as well in articles like,  Myths of Taking the Vaccine.    The most popular myth is that you receive a microchip into your system.  If this were truly the case, would our former president and current president, as well as other government leaders receive the vaccine?  Yesterday's headline features several Broadway celebrities, such as Lin Manuel Miranda, receiving his vaccine on Times Square where he helped promote the site of a new vaccination station.  If this myth had one ounce of credibility, would any of the above-mentioned take the risk?  Of course not! The more rational of our population needs to become more vocal to silence the conspiracy lovers propagating these myths.  

Granted, there are exceptions for individuals regarding vaccinations, namely religious reasons.  My thought is schools should require teachers and staff to become vaccinated, and if a staff member refuses due to religious beliefs, then it needs to be proven.  In other words, if their paperwork already has this exemption documented, then perhaps they should be given a pass.  If they are suddenly claiming religious reason, yet received the other required immunizations, then this should be brought into question.  It is not a violation of privacy since childcare workers, teachers, and other school staff submit to background checks and fingerprints.  

Every year, my school provided the opportunity to receive our yearly flu shot and offered to watch out classes while we did so.  I admit, I typically skip the offer because my immune system just cannot handle the shot.  However, I have rarely had a bout of the flu after 16 years of teaching in a petri dish of germs.  If I contract the flu, it was short-lived, and I recovered within a day or two.    This year, however, I may go ahead and bite the bullet and get a flu shot anyway.  I know I will need to get the shot over the weekend since I have a strong reaction to the shot.  I want to do whatever I can to ensure my safety, the safety of my loved ones, and the safety of my coworkers and students.   It would be more convenient if the healthcare industry offered both the COVID-19 vaccine booster and flu shot at the same time. 

By nature, most teachers are givers who give their all to their students.  Teaching remote or hybrid has taken its toll on many of us as we long to be back face to face with our students.  A few already have been face to face from the very beginning.  I believe the COVID-19 vaccine will simply allow us to be exactly where our heart desires, so to me, it's worth the shot.   

Mandatory Covid-19 Vaccine

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related posts:

TeachingFlip That Frown Upside Down - Teaching Like a Stoic VaccinationWhat Would Be Worth A Staff Professional Development Day? Vaccinations for Texas' Teachers AmericaAmerica's Reckoning: How Will Teachers Go Into Their Classrooms Tomorrow? HomeschoolToday's Homeschool Struggles Are Yesterday's In-School Struggles
« As a Student, I Needed A Culturally Responsive Curriculum; As a Teacher Lets Change That
"It's Time To Make The Donuts:" Teaching in 2020-2021 »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kris Williams says

    May 03, 2021 at 7:20 am

    As I teacher I have never been forced to have certain vaccinations. If the Covid experimental vaxx becomes required foe my job, I will change professions. We should NOT be doing an experiment this broadly when the adverse effects are unknown. The government should have been promoting improving one’s health to strengthen one’s immune system to fight off the virus naturally. .

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

The Educator's Room was launched in 2012 to amplify the voice of educators. To date, we have over 45+ writers from around the world and boast over twelve million page views. Through articles, events, and social media we will advocate for honest dialogue with teachers about how to improve public education. This mission is especially important when reporting on education in our community; therefore, we commit our readers to integrity, accuracy, and independence in education reporting. To join our mailing list, click here.

What we do

At The Educator's Room, we focus on amplifying and honoring the voice of educators as experts in education. To date, we have over 40 staff writers/teachers from around the world.

Popular Posts

  • A Q&A with Baltimore Teachers Union President, Diamonté Brown
  • 6 Reasons to Use Read-Alouds Daily
  • The Secret Ingredients of Lesson Planning
  • The Exhaustion of Black Educators on Another "Day After"

Featured On

Buy Our Books/Courses

How to Leave Your Job in Education

Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout

Using Your Teacher Expertise to Become an Educational Consultant

Check out our books on teaching and learning!

The Learning Academy

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Accessibility Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Services
  • Media Kit
  • FAQ

 

Copyright © 2021 The Educator's Room.