When President Biden said he had a “national plan” to “shut down” the pandemic, a large part of that plan was apparently based on hoping and wishing for things he doesn’t have an answer for.
During a town hall-style event Tuesday on CNN, Biden was asked for the billionth time about what he’s going to do to reopen public schools for in-person learning, given that teachers all over the country are refusing to return to their jobs without being vaccinated against COVID-19.
“I think that we should be vaccinating teachers,” Biden said. “We should move them up in the hierarchy, as well.”
The next day, on CNN, White House spokeswoman Symone Sanders offered more hopes and dreams. “The president and vice president believe that teachers should be prioritized for receiving the vaccination along with other front-line workers,” she said.
It’s nice that Biden thinks teachers should receive higher priority in getting a vaccine that’s in very high demand. But why isn’t he doing anything about it?
This might be a good time for some part of his “national plan” to kick in.
Democrats, including Biden, and the news media spent day after day dumping on former President Donald Trump for mostly leaving the public response to the virus at the state level, where governors and mayors presumably have a more familiar grasp with what their specific populations would and could do to limit the spread. The Trump administration fast-tracked federal approval for vaccines and provided local governments with additional personal protective equipment, but it otherwise left most responsibilities at the state level.
That’s called federalism, but that’s not how Biden said he would do things. He said his administration would run the show. What gives?
It probably has something to do with the fact that Biden’s own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there’s no reason that schools can’t reopen before teachers are vaccinated. Children simply don’t transmit the virus at high levels. But a lot of teachers simply don’t care.
So, if Biden, who says he wants schools open, were to take action, he would have two options: He could either ensure that teachers receive higher priority for vaccination, or he could find a way to force them back to school without vaccination.
He has done neither. And the reason is simple. Biden has no national plan.
