Miami-Dade School Board approves incentives for vaccinated staff

DORAL, FL – In an effort to reduce deaths related with the pandemic, Miami-Dade School Board is planning on providing incentives for vaccinated staff.

This topic was discussed and approved unanimously by members of the board on Thursday. The United Teachers of Dade proposed a $275 stipend to Miami-Dade Schools employees who show proof of vaccination.

The initiative is meant to be an alternative solution to the requirement of vaccine passports that is prohibited by law in the state and will be enforced from September 16. 

According to that bill passed into law, businesses, governments, or educations institutions that demand proof of vaccination or vaccination passports to their customers or the general public will be fined with $5,000.

This measure has awaken concerns among businesses, including education institutions, that see no way out to guarantee the safety of the school community amid the new Delta variant that has proven to be the most contagious and dangerous of them all. 

But regardless of the prohibition, cases related with COVID-19 continue to increase among school staff with thirteen school district employees accounted as dead since the middle of August, including four teachers, a security monitor, a cafeteria worker and seven bus drivers, which has motivated the offering of incentives for vaccinated staff.

In an interview provided by Superintendent Alberto Carvalho to CNN, he said the incentives were “the best they could do”, due to the illegality of vaccine passports in Florida. 

Regarding the casualties reported, it was revealed all of them were African American and not vaccinated, according to the Superintendent. Also, the district says none of the cases were contracted in school buildings.

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