Vaccination Requirements Support School Staff Health
MMSD school board will vote on staff vaccination requirements tomorrow (6/26), opportunities for comment
For those in the Madison community, please consider submitting a comment to the MMSD school board to OPPOSE ending the COVID vaccination requirement for school staff (agenda item 8.1). Instructions on how to submit written comments or speak either in person or virtually can be found here: https://www.madison.k12.wi.us/about/board-of-education/board-of-education-virtual-meetings
The written comment portal remains open until 3pm tomorrow (Monday 6/26). For those who may want to attend the meeting in person, I highly recommend wearing a well-fitting respirator as these meetings are quite packed and few people are masking. The UW Workers’ COVID Response Working Group statement is available via the substack link below.
Dear Board of Education,
I am submitting this comment individually to OPPOSE agenda item 8.1, the proposal to discontinue the school staff COVID vaccination requirement. COVID vaccination is an important workplace protection that is a win-win for our schools. I am a member of the UW Workers’ COVID Response Working Group, who also submitted a comment as a group, which you can also find on our Substack:
As a physician-scientist living in Madison, I have been working on a volunteer basis to help raise awareness about COVID’s impact and to support better protections for our community. With the premature end of many federal resources for COVID protection, our community faces a more challenging environment in keeping crucial COVID protections. COVID continues to disproportionately affect already marginalized groups including people of color, economically disadvantaged people, and disabled people. COVID vaccinations are a science-based protection that is underutilized. Although 87% of people in Dane County have received their primary series, only 42% have received an updated bivalent booster [1]. It is important to recognize that a vaccination requirement encourages high levels of vaccination, and removing the requirement will be detrimental to staff vaccination rates. Please consider adding an up-to-date booster requirement to the policy.
Many people who are young and healthy do not understand that they are at risk of severe consequences of COVID and are not aware that long COVID impacts about 10% of people [2]. Repeated infections further increase the risk of long COVID and organ damage from COVID [2,3]. Vaccination reduces these risks. Maintaining a requirement may require some creative thinking as far as getting the appropriate resources. However, a vaccination requirement sends a clear, science-based message and establishes the norm that all of us need to protect ourselves from COVID infection and its potentially devastating impacts. This approach not only supports workplace safety but is also a win-win for maintaining staffing during ongoing challenges, as vaccination will lead to reduced sick time for staff.
I understand that the testing requirement for unvaccinated staff has been a burden. Given our current understanding of COVID infection, we should not consider testing as an “alternative” to vaccination. However, I encourage you to consider ways to make testing readily available to all school staff, regardless of vaccination status.
I hope you will continue to show leadership, a commitment to science-based policies, and support for equity by continuing to require vaccination for school staff.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/us/dane-wisconsin-covid-cases.html
Thaweethai T, Jolley SE, Karlson EW, et al. Development of a Definition of Postacute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection. JAMA. Published online May 25, 2023. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.8823
Sauerwein K. Repeat COVID-19 infections increase risk of organ failure, death. Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Published November 10, 2022. Accessed February 1, 2023. https://medicine.wustl.edu/news/repeat-covid-19-infections-increase-risk-of-organ-failure-death/