Oregon Education Association supports vaccine mandate

SALEM, Ore. – The Oregon Education Association is on board with Governor Brown’s new vaccination requirement for teachers.

Thursday, Brown announced all teachers, educators, support staff, and volunteers in K-12 schools will be required to be fully vaccinated by October 18 or six weeks after full FDA approval, whichever is later.

After the decision, The Oregon Education Association said their organization supports the new mandate.

They issued the following statement:

“As we have said from the beginning of this pandemic, nobody wants to get students safely back into the classroom more than Oregon’s educators. While many Oregonians were hopeful that this summer marked the end of the pandemic, it has become increasingly clear that the worst of COVID-19 is not yet behind us. Fueled by the Delta variant, COVID cases in Oregon have skyrocketed to levels that we have not yet witnessed in our state, creating another wave in our ongoing public health crisis.

“OEA believes that today’s vaccine requirement will help provide stability for our students this fall and will help improve safety in our schools and in our communities. The science on this issue is clear. Vaccines, coupled with other proven public health mitigation strategies, are the best way to ensure our schools stay open and are a safe place for students to learn and for educators to teach.

“We urge districts throughout the state to work collaboratively with educators on how this mandate is implemented at the local level and to continue efforts to maintain additional public health mitigation strategies such as the use of personal protective equipment, frequent testing, social distancing, ensuring proper ventilation and frequent disinfecting in our public schools.”