Second largest teachers union now backs vaccination mandate
08 August 2021
The head of the American Federation of Teachers told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that the union's leadership should consider implementing a vaccine mandate for teachers in schools.
Why it matters: The move would mark a policy reversal from last October, when the union allowed vaccinations on a voluntary basis. AFT President Randi Weingarten called the Delta variant of the virus "alarming" and voiced concern for children who cannot yet be vaccinated.
What they're saying: "[V]accines are the single most important way of dealing with COVID, we've always dealt with or — since 1850 — we've dealt with vaccines in schools, it's not a new thing to have immunizations in schools," Weingarten said.
- Weingarten noted that "circumstances have changed" since the union's original policy was implemented in October.
- "It weighs really heavily on me that kids under 12 can't get vaccinated," she added.
The big picture: The American Federation of Teachers is the second largest teachers union in the country and leadership will convene this week to consider a formal policy change, Weingarten said.
- Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, told the New York Times last week that vaccine mandates should be negotiated at the local level.
- NIAID director Anthony Fauci told Meet the Press in a separate segment on Sunday that children who aren't be vaccinated should be surrounded by vaccinated adults in schools.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.