Should Educators Push You to Vaccinate Your Children?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Next, as Pfizer prepares to seek U.S. authorization for use of their vaccine in children six months to five years old, hesitancy among parents is the next hurdle. In the United States, just 28 percent of five to 11- year-olds have had one dose. Garrison Elementary School in Washington, D.C., has bucked that trend with 80 percent of students receiving their first shot. Michel Martin sits down with the school principal, Brigham Kiplinger, to explore how they accomplished this feat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHEL MARTIN, CONTRIBUTOR: Brigham Kiplinger, Mr. Kip, thank you so much for joining us.

BRIGHAM KIPLINGER, PRINCIPAL, GARRISON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Thank you. Good morning.

MARTIN: Good morning. In the spirit of full disclosure, I want everybody to know that we actually know each other because you were my children’s fifth grade teacher.

KIPLINGER: That’s right.

MARTIN: The reason that you’re on the front page of “The New York Times” is that your school has become noteworthy in that a lot of parents, even parents who have vaccinated themselves, have proven to be very hesitate about getting the littlest vaccinated once those vaccines became available. So, at about 80 percent of the kids in your school have had at least one shot. That’s — that is a vast difference from the sort of the national averages where I think it’s about 17 percent are fully vaccinated around the country and maybe 28 percent have had one dose. So, you know, just — you’re just definitely an outlier. So, the first thing I wanted to ask is, when did you develop an urgency around getting the littlest vaccinated? How did that come to you?

KIPLINGER: Yes. Really it was from the very first sign that a vaccine was coming online for our age group, which was many months ago and then, of course, it went through rigorous clinical trials and research and the approval process. We started laying the groundwork for this even last year. We had been through a similar, you know, sort of learning curve and challenge in getting staff and families vaccinated, which we approached more than a year ago through outreach with local black pediatricians and a lot of connecting to resources of various kinds, targeted in families’ home languages and that kind of thing. And so, we had to start with the grown-ups to get them, more or less, comfortable first. And then, as soon as we learned that the vaccine would be approved likely in late October, early November, for five to 11-year- olds, we reached out to the city to line up clinics here at school through D.C. health and the children’s hospital team who have been wonderful. And then, we started spreading the word and really just making sure that every family knew about this opportunity and that we were shaping a path straight to our door so that there was no logistical barrier to families making that decision.

MARTIN: Well, that (INAUDIBLE). What do you think the hesitation has been? A lot of these communities — people have had multiple family members get sick. You know, in some cases, die. In Washington, D.C., the mayor’s own the sister passed away from COVID. So, it’s not like people don’t know that this is serious. And in fact, adults in the Washington, D.C. area have embraced, you know, vaccines.

KIPLINGER: Yes.

MARTIN: But do the littles, the little kids are the ones that people have been hesitant about. Even, as I said, parents who have got vaccinated themselves. So, what were you hearing in terms of the hesitation?

KIPLINGER: You’re right, Michel. And COVID has been devastating nationwide and especially here in our very own community, many of your families have been directly affected. And that made some of them probably just want to hunker down and not leave this house, which is completely understandable. When we’re talking about our children, that’s our pride and joy and it’s almost like our heart living outside of our body, is how I’ve heard my wife describe it. And so, any time we’re putting something inside our children’s body, we want to be absolutely sure that it’s safe and is going to keep them safe. And that’s — people go through that learning curve and that journey at different paces. And, of course, that’s complicated by the complex and painful history of medicine and medical science in communities of color, in particular, which is a majority of our school community, and families know the history, whether they — you know, whether it’s at an academic level or just being passed down through the generations. And we have to overcome that understandable and very rational mistrust of the disparate health outcomes born of systemic racism. And so, you know, we were up against a fair amount of that and also, just the misinformation that’s rampant online and on social media. And that’s a slow process. It’s a lot of face-to-face conversations. It’s connecting families with experts who look like them and speak like them. And then, just listening to people’s questions and their worries and validating those and not also letting them stay where they are, but constantly moving towards what the science is saying.

MARTIN: What did you do exactly in terms of getting people in front of people who you say that look like them and they — like, what did you do?

KIPLINGER: Well, it was a few things. One was that we have some amazing leaders of our parent-teacher organization, including one whose pediatrician, is a local pediatrician, who served the community for many years, Dr. Hay (ph) is her name. And she was willing to come on Zoom and host a Q&A with our families. That was a fall a year and a quarter ago. I guess fall 2020. And then, we’ve had her return for smaller group conversations since with staff and with families. And so, that was part of it. And then, enlisting families as our vaccine ambassadors, if you will, there’s something most powerful about hearing directly from a parent who shares your experience and can meet you where you are and assure you that their child got the shot and they woke up the next day with a slightly sore arm, but nothing else. And they’re safer for it.

MARTIN: You have a mobile vaccination vans come to the school. Like, why was that important, after hours, like 3:30 to 7:30? Like, why was that important?

KIPLINGER: Yes. The shots got to go where the people are, and in this case, where the kids are. And the kids are at school and the parents are picking them up from school. And so, we worked with DCPS and Children’s Hospital to bring the clinics to our gym and cafeteria here at school, what we call the Garrison Commons. And it’s a familiar environment and kids could play on the playground while their parents waited in line. And we had popcorn and music and a movie playing in the background and popsicles after their shots and we just made it fun and joyful but also convenient for families, not having to make an appointment with their pediatrician or miss any school. They could pick up at regular dismissal or aftercare dismissal until 7:30 in the evening. No excuses for not popping in and at least asking your questions and sharing your worries, whether or not you decided to stay for your shot that night or not. And we’ve now had three or four clinics. And each one — the first one, we got about 100 wildcats with shots in their arms and then, another 25 at the next one, another 30 at the next one. And we’ve got another on Friday and are hoping for even more, you know, inching closer to full vaccination.

MARTIN: You know, some people would say that that’s not your business as an educator. I can imagine what some people are saying, well, what I would do would get my shots and whatever, it’s just not your business. You know, notwithstanding the fact that you have to get a lot of shots in order to go to school, you know, for years. I mean, for years, that has been the case. But this particular one, a lot of people say, it’s not your business. What would you say?

KIPLINGER: Yes. I mean, I’m glad you pointed out that there was never a similar controversy around the polio vaccine when my parents were growing up or around, you know, MMR shots that children around the country get every year for school, it’s required. And for whatever reason this has become so polarizing and politized given the schisms in our body politic at the large. But, you know, to your question about whether this is my or our business, I understand the concern. But the nature of school has changed fundamentally in the last two years. And children cannot learn if they are not well and if they’re not in school. We saw that crystal clear in the early months and first year of the pandemic. And once we know better, we have to do better. And so, we have put all of your focus in the past year or so in — well, even since the jump into meeting our family’s physiological needs, whether it’s for housing or grocery gift cards or rent assistance, whatever it is. We need to remove the barriers for learning, and the vaccine is one of the most important and powerful weapons in our arsenal to keep kids in school. And so, as the leader of the school, I believe it is my business and our moral imperative to do everything we can to keep children in class and getting their hearts and minds stronger every day.

MARTIN: One of the parents interviewed in “The New York Times” piece said that you harassed them, and she said that that’s OK though because you are family, which is a high compliment. But tell me both about of those things, do you harass them and are you family? Do people think of you as family?

KIPLINGER: Yes. That’s Kemika Cosey and she’s not wrong. My own family and my former students and friends, everyone who knows me, knows I can be hard charging at times and not always take no easily for an answer. But I try to save it for when the stakes are the highest and it’s the most important and this feels like that moment and that issue. I try to and I think I do respect families’ wishes and their worries and give them the time and the space and the grace to go through that — you know, that decision-making process themselves while respecting their unique context and circumstances. But also, continuing to reach out and not just take the first no as the final answer.

MARTIN: What are the things that you hear from some people who say that they’re resistant to getting the vaccine because they feel like people are talking down to them? And you can see where race could be part of that. And I’m just wondering how you navigated that. I mean, obviously, you have a long history in this particular school district. You’ve worked with diverse kids, you know, kids with backgrounds who are not from your same background for a long time. I’m sure other people are facing that, that they feel like, well, I don’t really have a right to tell other people what to do or people feel like, you don’t know me, you know or — you know what I mean? How do you deal with that?

KIPLINGER: We try to start with listening and listening with curiosity, genuine curiosity and humility, that we don’t have all the answers. We’re all trying to figure this out. This is unchartered territory and we’re all learning together and we’re learning in our own ways from our own sources. And when the information that they’ve — that a family has been reading is straight-up wrong, such as that the vaccine is going to alter their child’s DNA, then I walk them over to the nurse from children’s health right there in the commons at our clinic and they talk about it. And it’s not leadership if you’re not helping people to outgrow themselves and if you’re not outgrowing yourself each day. And certainly, as a white man in a diverse school community and in a city that — with the fraught racial dynamics that D.C. has, this is my hometown and I will be here forever and love it to death and I am well aware of the fraught history and try to approach that with grace and curiosity.

MARTIN: Has anybody ever just straight-up hung up on you?

KIPLINGER: Yes, yes.

MARTIN: — everything. Like, what was that like and how did you handle it?

KIPLINGER: It’s hard. You know, I — despite five years in this role and many — and almost 20 years in urban education, I like being liked and I try to be a people pleaser, and the pandemic has made that impossible. Leadership, in general, it makes that impossible, but especially in the pandemic. Not everybody wants the same thing or expects that. And so, you know, my gentle, you know, loving, harassing, sometimes, I think has — you know, has either hit the wrong note or rubbed people the wrong way and I always try to circle back with love and a hug and ensure — assure them that it’s coming from a place of love and respect. But, yes, we’ve got to keep moving forward. We can’t stay where we are. And inevitably, that will involve growing through some discomfort for myself and for our school family.

MARTIN: You’re at 80 percent. Like, what would it take to get to 100 percent?

KIPLINGER: That’s a great question. I think inevitably it’s going to take the city and the district mandating the vaccine for those final few hard- core holdouts. But we’re — again, we have another clinic on Friday and I’ve been touch with people who were soft or hardnosed a few weeks ago at our last clinic, and I’m hoping and expecting that a few more of them will come out and then, we’ll keep chipping away at it. I got an exciting push notification that we all hear that the FDA is moving forward with potential provisional authorization of the vaccine for babies to four-year-olds, which will help keep our pre-k students safe and welcome another round of clinics through the spring to get them fully vaxxed. So, onwards or towards brighter days.

MARTIN: Do you think that it should be mandatory for the youngest? I mean, the (INAUDIBLE) has just taken that step. Do you think it should be mandatory?

KIPLINGER: Yes, it should. We’ve done that with many other vaccines through our history and this one needn’t be any different. We know from the experience of the past couple of years that we’re not done with the virus or with its constantly evolving variants. And the vaccination has been proven to be the best protection, hands down, against serious illness and worse. So, we need to take every measure for every child, to keep them in classrooms, getting their hearts and minds stronger.

MARTIN: Is there something that you — I mean, you’re not in the business of telling other educators what to do. But is there something that you think you’ve learned here that you would like other people to — that you would share with other people, you know, share your experience, if they’re kind of pulling their hair out at this point?

KIPLINGER: The trust that we have been building over the past five years was prerequisite and foundational to getting through this latest stage. And so, certainly begin there. But wherever you’re beginning, we now know that while blended learning and flexible scheduling and that kind of thing have their benefits, that there’s no substitute or shortcut to joyful, rigorous in-person learning and that that needs to be safeguarded and ensured at all safe costs. And we now know that the vaccine is one of the ways to do that, as well as masking and outdoor dining, such as we implemented a year ago and continue to do, even on chilly days like today as well as routine testing that some of our staff members were instrumental in helping the district to get online. Let’s just — let’s throw every possible public health and safety measure in place that we can and then, keep kids in school and keep loving on them and holding them to high standards and connecting with their families, listening to their worries and then also holding their hand and helping them through and past those.

MARTIN: Lots of hugs and popsicles.

KIPLINGER: Absolutely. It always helps sweeten the deal.

MARTIN: All right. Brigham Kiplinger, Mr. Kip, the principal of Garrison Elementary School, thank you for talking with us.

KIPLINGER: Thank you, Michel.