States Interactive

Where Teachers Are Eligible for the COVID-19 Vaccine

January 15, 2021 | Updated: April 05, 2021 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

From January through April 2021, Education Week tracked when K-12 educators, as a profession, became eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

On March 8, 2021, teachers became eligible nationwide to receive the vaccine under the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. However, some states continued to provide vaccinations at their state-run sites based on their own rollout plans, under which some teachers were not yet eligible.

Twelve states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia made teachers eligible for vaccinations statewide in January, eight states did so in February, and 16 in March. Other states did not make teachers eligible all at once but incrementally, based on where they lived or how old they were.

Montana was the only state that did not prioritize teachers as a profession, but all teachers became eligible when the state opened vaccinations to the general public.

As of April 5, 2021, all K-12 teachers in the United States were eligible to receive the vaccine.

For more coverage of COVID-19 vaccines, see our topic page.

Table: Search Vaccine Eligibility in Your State

Download the Data

Data file last updated: April 5, 2021 11:15 am ET

Data Notes/Methodology:
Updated April 5, 2021

  • This review was focused on K-12 educators, and did not include school nurses, who were often included in a different phase with other health-care workers.
  • The data tracked the vaccine eligibility of public school teachers. In some places, private school teachers were eligible at the same time, but in others they were not.
  • Some educators experienced delays in scheduling vaccination appointments after becoming eligible.
  • Some educators were vaccinated earlier than the “teachers became eligible” date because they qualified for other reasons, such as age or having a chronic health condition.
  • The data were collected from official government communications and websites, rather than from local news outlets or other sources. In some cases, that meant the local landscape may have looked a little different than what the data showed.
  • The data was collected from Jan. 15 through April 5, 2021. The data download file was updated once a week and contains each week’s data in a separate tab.

Contact Information
For media or research inquiries about this data, contact library@educationweek.org.

How to Cite This Page
Where Teachers Are Eligible for the COVID-19 Vaccine (2021, January 15). Education Week. Retrieved Month Day, Year from www.edweek.org/policy-politics/where-teachers-are-eligible-for-the-covid-19-vaccine/2021/01

Data Compilation/Reporting: Holly Peele, Maya Riser-Kositsky
Design/Visualization: Emma Patti Harris
Editor: Liana Loewus

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

States Republican and Democratic Governors Both Are Touting This K-12 Priority
Workforce readiness and career and technical education were the most common education themes in governors' state of the state addresses.
6 min read
Heidi Griebel and Josie Wahl participate in carpentry class at Career and Technical Education Academy in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Jan. 7, 2019.
Heidi Griebel and Josie Wahl participate in carpentry class at Career and Technical Education Academy in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Jan. 7, 2019. CTE programs were a core theme of several governors' state addresses in 2024.
Loren Townsley/The Argus Leader via AP
States School Chaplain Bills Multiply, Stirring Debate on Faith-Based Counseling
Proponents say school chaplains could help address a mental health crisis. Opponents raise concerns about religious coercion.
6 min read
Image of a bible sitting on top of a school backpack.
Canva
States What's on the K-12 Agenda for States This Year? 4 Takeaways
Reading instruction, private school choice, and teacher pay are among the issues leading governors' K-12 education agendas.
6 min read
Gov. Brad Little provides his vision for the 2024 Idaho Legislative session during his State of the State address on Jan. 8, 2024, at the Statehouse in Boise.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little outlines his priorities during his State of the State address before lawmakers on Jan. 8, 2024, at the capitol in Boise.
Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman via AP
States Q&A How Districts Can Navigate Tricky Questions Raised by Parents' Rights Laws
Where does a parent's authority stop and a school's authority begin? A constitutional law scholar weighs in.
6 min read
Illustration of dice with arrows and court/law building icons: conceptual idea of laws and authority.
Andrii Yalanskyi/iStock/Getty