News Scan for Mar 01, 2022

Childcare workers left out of state COVID vaccine mandates for teachersFewer than half of US states requiring COVID-19 vaccination or routine testing of schoolteachers included childcare professionals in their mandates, leaving some young children vulnerable to infection by  unvaccinated caregivers, according to a study yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics.Yale University researchers reviewed official archives of COVID-related executive orders for all 50 states and Washington, DC, as well as state COVID-19 databases, as of Nov 1, 2021.Eleven states, including Washington, DC, had issued executive-branch requirements for either COVID-19 vaccination or routine testing for schoolteachers, and only five of them included childcare workers.

No states issued such directives for childcare professionals alone or passed laws requiring COVID-19 vaccination.Three states mandated COVID-19 vaccination for schoolteachers, with no routine testing alternative, while seven accepted either vaccination or routine testing, and one mandated routine testing with opt-out vaccination for those seeking to avoid weekly testing.Six states didn't identify any vaccination exemptions, while the rest allowed medical or religious exemptions, or both.

All states mandated formal proof of vaccination as healthcare provider attestation, signed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccination card, or entry in a state immunization registry.The findings, the researchers said, suggest an unwarranted disparity in the vaccination of schoolteachers and childcare workers. "Several arguments favor vaccinating childcare professionals," they wrote. "First, both staff and children in childcare programs may be at higher risk for contracting COVID-19 than those in schools,