CLEVELAND — Along with essential workers and anyone older than 70 years old, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended that child care workers, K-12 teachers, and educational support staff be included in Phase 1b of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan.

But Ohio didn't fully implement the recommendation, putting early childhood workers in a lower priority group than educators and support staff in K-12 schools.

Jessica Robins, director of early childhood services at the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Beachwood, said she was excited to learn that child and daycare workers were included in the CDC’s recommendations.

“It felt necessary,” she said. “We’ve been living with a lot of stress and anxiety around getting sick ourselves from exposure or the families and children we work with getting sick, and it felt like that important safety guards, that would protect us moving forward.

Kimberly Tice, executive director of Ohio Association for the Education of Young Children said she’s disappointed, to say the least. 

“They're very confused, frustrated, feel devalued through all this,” she said. “Since the beginning of the pandemic, the governor has said we are essential workers, and they stepped to the plate, heroically during that time, and now they’re expendable.”

They’ve asked Gov. Mike DeWine to reconsider excluding them from Phase 1b of vaccinations, using a Change.org petition that Robins started, which has more than 17,000 signatures.

“When people read it, not only were they shocked that you actually weren't included in Phase 1b, but immediately they're like, how can we help, what can we do?" Robins said.

Tice said a wide range of people are showing their support.

“It’s not just early childhood educators signing,” Tice said. “Families are signing, K- 12 are signing, grandparents are signing. It really is people who are seeing the value of the work that they're doing every day.”

Robins said DeWine has cited that the state's vaccine supply is limited, and returning K-12 students is his top priority.  She said she believes that’s all the more reason for the group to be included. 

“By vaccinating childcare workers, that's a strategy to support his goal of opening schools because as Jessica can tell you, they provide before and after school care. They provide the learning,” Tice said. “They provide care for siblings of school-aged children as well as care for the children of K-12 staff.”

Robins said she strongly believes the economy is running, because of the selfless support that early childcare providers and educators have been giving the entire pandemic, and there's a strong need for them to be vaccinated.

DeWine has not provided childcare workers with an alternative vaccination phase or date.