On Tuesday, I wrote about how U.S. senators managed to be among the first to receive the coronavirus vaccine nationally. (See two posts down.) Asserting privilege (or, as some might call it, “line jumping”) is not just for the national ruling class – it exists on all levels of government. Last night, WTOV ran the following story on its 6 PM news:
Some Ohio County Schools administrators get COVID-19 vaccine#LiveOnNews9
— WTOV NEWS9 (@WTOV9) December 23, 2020
FULL STORY: https://t.co/QCsckAGiYk
The move is drawing some criticism. State teachers and staff are technically a part of Phase 1D, which is still in the planning stages pic.twitter.com/rQCkgdgeLY
The accompanying article begins:
A photo posted to the Ohio County Schools Facebook page on Wednesday afternoon is drawing some criticism.
The photo shows two people -- Superintendent Dr. Kimberly Miller and Assistant Superintendent Rick Jones --receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.
Some are commenting, asking when at-risk teachers will be vaccinated? And why administrators received a shot this early in the process?
(Note -- I checked and the school district's Facebook page no longer carries the pictures.)
The WTOV article also includes a spokesperson for the school district who attempts to rationalize how the administrators (who would be in phase 1D) were vaccinated as part of 1B.
Additional media coverage
So far, there has been none that I could find. WTRF, if their web page is accurate, has not covered the story. As for our local Ogden outlets, there was nothing about this in either the morning or afternoon papers. This is not surprising -- the Ogden chain apparently works from the premise that no news happens around holidays so there is no sense in paying reporters to write stories. By the way, Ogden management is quite aware of the actions by the local school administrators – their editorial director, John McCabe, retweeted this message early last evening:
Wheeling Hospital employees were told they ran out of vaccine & they're on the front line. All the elderly & at-risk people vaccinated?
— Dr. WVUAlum Patriot (@WVUalum24) December 23, 2020
But two school administrators in their 40's got theirs. These two don't even teach & schools are virtual.
Who put them at the top of the list? https://t.co/hGol2vDnUv
So, as the virus continues to spread, so do the line jumpers.
December 25 Update -- A special hat tip to the West Virginia Supreme Court
In the West Virginia Supreme Court’s plan to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to employees who want it, probation officers, magistrates and other court staff who interact with the public take precedence over the justices themselves.https://t.co/96SxUZU4eW
— Gazette-Mail (@wvgazettemail) December 25, 2020
Good for them!
