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Won’t Someone Think of the Children? Maybe Teachers?
This is a popular quote from the Simpsons and I’ve started to wonder if I’ve actually turned into Helen Lovejoy. But seriously, won’t someone please think of the children?
Despite not having children in schools myself, I’ve spent the better part of the last year and a half advocating for open schools and normalcy, because this is what kids so desperately need. Now, teacher’s unions are floating the idea of the third year of closed schools, with no indication that damaging mitigation efforts like masks and mandatory quarantines will be eliminated. Even worse, they’re setting schools up for situations where closures are inevitable:
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) August 5, 2021
Following the example of Israel, we know what keeps childhood COVID rates high, and it’s a high level of community infection. Making sure the adults around kids are vaccinated is the number one way to keep kids from getting infected.
Adjusted for population
Florida had 12X as many kids infected as Massachusetts last week
And Louisiana? About 10X
So what's going on?
None of these kids are vaccinated!
So why are infection rates so much lower in MA?
Right, because kids are protected by adults
4/5
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) August 3, 2021
So what else are teacher’s unions fighting for besides setting in place benchmarks for school closures? They’re fighting for the right for their constituents to remain unvaccinated. Even liberals have reached a breaking point with their antics:
After fighting to keep schools closed for more than a year, teachers unions are now opposing vaccine requirements for teachers. Starting to feel like some of these unions are trying to radicalize every conceivable political faction in America against them. https://t.co/OFRsYO1VOY
— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) August 3, 2021
Over the course of the pandemic, as teacher’s unions fight against the best interest of kids at every turn, I get messages from teachers about how the unions don’t represent them. It’s time for them to prove it. It’s time for teachers in districts playing these games to publicly fight back or find a new line of work. We cannot allow our kids to be victimized by these unions anymore.
Published in General
The teachers are going to have to come together and go after their unions. At this point, in spite of their fears, there’s no other way.
I side with the teachers and healthcare workers and everyone else who is against forced vaccinations. It’s up to the medical community and the manufacturers to persuade people to be vaccinated.
Everything the founding fathers hoped for rested in an informed citizenry that could be talked to, not forced. They got their wish. We are that. :-)
The pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine forces keep bouncing the tennis ball back and forth in an endless verbal volley. There must be definitive answers somewhere. :-)