By Kaylee Chan | Junior Editor

   Many Gabrielino students and staff have been anticipating the distribution of vaccinations to teachers as part of California’s distribution plan. The plan has placed educators in line to receive the vaccine under Phase 1B, following health workers, who were prioritized in Phase 1A.

   While specific dates for the transition between phases remains unclear, some counties have already begun vaccinating those in Phase 1B, a group which includes essential workers in other sectors and citizens over the age of 65.

   The two vaccines that have been approved for distribution are the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which require two doses administered over 20 days apart, according to Mayo Clinic.

   Government officials such as California governor Gavin Newsom have put emphasis on getting the vaccines to educators in order to quicken the return to in-person learning. However, even as teachers gain access to the vaccine, it is unlikely to impact the current virtual academy arrangements, especially in Los Angeles.

   The California Department of Public Health has rated LA County under the most restrictive tier, following a winter uptick in coronavirus cases. Under that tier, schools are not allowed to reopen. and according to the LA Times, projections from health officials indicate it is unlikely the county will be able to get less restrictive in the near future.

   One of the districts at the forefront of California’s school closure policy, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), has already announced it will not be returning to in-person learning for the new semester. LAUSD’s superintendent Austin Beutner has expressed that, even with teacher vaccinations, it was not safe for schools to reopen until community transmission rates decreased.

   “This tragically high level of the virus is having a direct impact on Los Angeles Unified’s ability to reopen classrooms,” Beutner said in a video update released on Jan. 11. “It’s not safe and appropriate when COVID levels are so much higher than the current state guidelines to even consider reopening school classrooms.”

   While the possibility of implementing an in-person model within the school year is slim, the vaccines have still provided a tentative timeline for a return to normalcy.

   According to the Harvard Gazette, infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci expects that achieving herd immunity could happen by the end of the summer, provided that 75 to 80 percent of the population is vaccinated by then.

   “If we do that, if we do it efficiently enough over the second quarter of 2021,” said Fauci. “By the time we get to the end of the summer, i.e., the third quarter […] we can approach some degree of normality that is close to where we were before.”