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Question: Why is the Alberta Teachers’ Association supporting school board vaccination mandates?
Answer: Like many of my generation, I bear on my upper arm a small souvenir of my very small contribution to one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of medicine. Rather faded now, it is the small circular scar caused by a smallpox vaccination I received as a child. I received that vaccination as part of a 20-year long global effort that finally eradicated the disease in 1980.
Evidence of smallpox has been found in Egyptian mummies; throughout history it was endemic worldwide, occasionally breaking out in epidemics that would claim the lives of a third of those in the populations it infected. When introduced to the Americas through European contact, it literally depopulated the two continents, killing countless millions of Indigenous people and devastating entire civilizations. But variolation and vaccination (beginning in the 19th century) worked; smallpox is one of only two infectious diseases that we have been able to systematically and deliberately eliminate. (Bonus question: What was the other?*)
That vaccination was part of my generation’s contribution to ensuring not only our own health, but the health of others in our immediate community and across the planet. As teachers, we have a similar responsibility to support and protect the health and well-being of the students in our care, as well as their families and the communities around us. By choosing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, a disease that has cost the lives of millions worldwide, we affirm that duty.
While there is an abundance of insidious misinformation circulating on social media and other noncredible sources, the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines is well established by the medical community. In fact, the science supporting vaccination is conclusive.
Achieving high levels of vaccination is our best way to protect students, fellow staff and their families, and the only path out of this pandemic.
I understand that some readers have concerns about vaccine mandates being implemented by school boards and the Association’s statement encouraging them. Our model policy would not force anyone to be vaccinated against their will. Teachers working for school districts that implement mandates will still have choices — to get vaccinated, to be tested regularly, to move to a different teaching environment or to take a leave without pay as a last resort.
We also recommend that such mandates should be temporary in nature and reviewed regularly. Importantly, our model policy provides for medical and human rights–based accommodations as required by law and states that any action taken against a teacher who is unvaccinated by choice should be a logical consequence and response to that choice, not disciplinary in nature.
Our policy supporting reasonable mandatory vaccination in schools has existed since 2017 and was voted on and passed by hundreds of teacher delegates at the Annual Representative Assembly. This pre-existing policy was used to inform our model policy for COVID-19 vaccination mandates. The model policy has also been thoroughly vetted by our legal counsel. I’ll note that when we polled a representative sample of members in April 2021, only 3.5 per cent indicated that they opposed being vaccinated, and that was before the emergence of the delta variant and additional public health measures.
I appreciate that my response may not satisfy your concerns, but the Association’s position on this is well supported by science, legal advice and the popular opinion of teachers. Further information can be found on our website.
If you require further advice or assistance related to your employment situation, you are encouraged to contact Teacher Employment Services at 1-800-232-7208 to seek advice and guidance about your options.
But finally, and most importantly, if you have not already been vaccinated, I urge you to do so. Bookings can be made quickly and easily at www.alberta.ca/covid19-vaccine.
* Bonus answer: Rinderpest, a measles-like disease of cattle and related hoofed animals. We are also tantalizingly close to eliminating polio, but that disease is still present in conflict areas of Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. ❚
Questions for consideration in this column are welcome. Please address them to Dennis Theobald at dennis.theobald@ata.ab.ca.
