Mandatory teacher vaccinations against COVID-19 became the hot topic in education circles again last week, with Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, making the media rounds on the issue.

Over the last year, Weingarten has been in favor of vaccine mandates, then opposed, then considering it. Last week, she returned to supporting it, along with claiming that “more than 90 percent of the AFT’s educators and school staff” are already vaccinated — suggesting it’s just a small minority of public education employees who are resisting. But some very large caveats come with that number.

There are almost 8 million public education employees in the United States, of whom only about 1.1 million are AFT members. A large plurality of them work in one state — New York. They are not a broad cross-section of the teacher workforce.

AFT confirmed that the 90 percent number is based on a telephone survey of 1,702 AFT members the union commissioned in late March. AFT touted the results in a press release headlined, “America’s Educators Are Vaccinated and Back in Person.”

The survey included respondents from health care fields, civil service, higher education and retirees. There were only 893 respondents from the crucial demographic — K-12 teachers and support employees.

Read the full article about the COVID-19 vaccination rates of teachers by Mike Antonucci at The 74.