A group of state organizations is urging the government to get COVID-19 vaccine shots in the arms of teachers and other school staff members as soon as possible.

“The significance of in-person education continues to be demonstrated daily to not only our educators working remotely, but also to our students and their parents/guardians,” representatives from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials, Pennsylvania Principals Association, Pennsylvania Association of Career and Technical Administrators, and the Pennsylvania Association of Intermediate Units wrote in a joint letter last week to Gov. Tom Wolf and acting Department of Health Secretary Alison Beam. “While our schools continue to perform incredibly well under the current circumstances, the difficulties of remote learning are of great concern to our members, Pennsylvania’s students, and their families.”

Pennsylvania hospitals began receiving shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine the week of Dec. 14 and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine the week of Dec. 21.

Through Wednesday, 1,110,783 doses of the vaccine have been administered.

There are 650,939 people who have received one dose and 229,922 people who have received two doses. Currently, Pennsylvania is in phase 1A of vaccination; teachers are included in the 1B phase.

Jim Thorpe Area High School teacher Greg Strubinger received his first vaccination dose in early January.

“I wasn’t that concerned about being in the school because it really wasn’t spreading throughout the building, but my wife and I got on the Mauch Chunk Pharmacy website and there were a whole bunch of openings, so we decided to register and make an appointment. Had I known at the time there would be this shortage and so many other people would be waiting, I would have gladly given up my spot.”

Strubinger, who is scheduled to get his second dose on Feb. 11, said as more teachers get vaccinated, however, he hopes it will give everyone a greater peace of mind and encourage a return to full-time in-person instruction.

“By and large I think most of the teachers are fine coming into the school right now,” he said. “There may be a handful, two or three, who don’t feel it is safe yet. I think the vaccinations will be a big help in making everyone feel a little better and safer.”

In its letter, the eight organizations said issues ranging from technology disruptions, distractions in home environments, limited hands-on learning opportunities, truancy and many other challenges make it “ever more important to return to in person instruction.”

“There is no doubt that this pandemic has strained every facet of how we provide education,” the group said. “We know that face masks, social distancing mandates, comprehensive cleaning protocols, adequate ventilation, and other measures were all designed to temporarily manage our lives in the safest manner possible until vaccines were developed and made widely available. After nearly a year, we seem to be slowly entering the final phase of the pandemic with the announcement and distribution of vaccines. This has begun to offer promise that, at some point, our lives will have a sense of normalcy again.”

The Pennsylvania House Health Committee held a hearing this week to examine the state’s COVID-19 vaccination distribution program.

According to state Rep. Doyle Heffley, committee members will try to determine why Pennsylvania is lagging the nation in getting vaccines into the arms of residents who desperately want protection from the virus.

The representative groups told Wolf and Beam they understand and support the state’s current plan to vaccinate health care personnel first in Phase 1A and have no intention of receiving the current limited supply of vaccines ahead of “these heroic members of our society.”

“We are asking that a specific plan be developed to distribute to those in educational settings that are in 1B,” the letter states. “With early access to vaccines, our public schools will be given the ability to consider returning to school buildings and bringing our students back to more comprehensive, structured educational environments, as soon as safely possible.”