Randi Weingarten asks MSNBC's Ruhle not to 'roll' her eyes during exchange over NY teacher vaccinations
Weingarten has been ripped for months for appearing to flip flop on the reopening of schools
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten had a curt exchange with MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle on Wednesday after the host asked why some New York City teachers oppose mandatory vaccinations.
"Schools require kids to get vaccinated for several diseases and Covid is far too serious to just encourage the vaccine. Why shouldn’t teachers be mandated?" Ruhle asked her guest.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Number one, in New York schools were open virtually all of last year, one of our locals, what they actually said was that we should have vaccines or testing, and they supported vaccines," Weingarten said as she began her response. The first claim was immediately questioned by critics.
Weingarten then insisted that the national union is deep in preparation for the fall. She said they're "doing everything we can to get kids back to school this September." Weingarten also noted that the union has been "supporting getting vaccines" since they were authorized and about 90 percent of their members have received the shots.
Viewers again questioned her statistics.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Weingarten preemptively asked Ruhle not to "roll" her eyes at her as she continued to make her case.
"And to your real question, before you roll your eyes at me, the difference that we’re trying to do right now is we’re trying to convince the holdouts, because we need to have a good back to school," she said. "There’s been so much trauma that we need everyone to feel welcome and safe in school, and we’re trying to convince. That’s what unions do. The 10 percent of holdouts to actually get a shot in the arm."
Weingarten's critics concluded that she both misled the audience and did not answer the question.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}ANALYSTS REACT AS WEINGARTEN PUSHES FOR ‘UNIVERSAL MASKING’ IN SCHOOLS: ‘JUST INSANE'
Weingarten has been ripped for months for appearing to flip flop on the reopening of schools. She's claimed that she and her union have always pushed for the return of in-person instruction. Unearthed correspondence between AFT and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that the union leaned on the agency to slow walk the reopening of schools.
The CDC was prepared to allow in-person learning regardless of transmission rates, but at the suggestion of the union, the guidelines were adjusted to include a provision that said, "In the event of high community-transmission results from a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, a new update of these guidelines may be necessary."
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Weingarten was also accused of backtracking yet again last week following new mask guidance from the CDC. In May, she told her union: "We can and we must reopen schools in the fall for in-person teaching, learning and support. And we must keep them open fully and safely five days a week." Yet last week Weingarten told MSNBC that they're "going to try" to reopen schools in the fall and, in a separate interview, called for "universal masking."