Dear Child Care Provider,
When the pandemic began last March, we pledged to walk with you and provide you with the latest resources and information critical to you and your business. That commitment remains today and into the future.
Demand for the COVID-19 vaccine across Ohio and the country remains higher than the current supply. As a result, guidance and action plans for distributing the vaccine are constantly evolving as Ohio and other states learn from week to week how many doses of vaccine are expected to be received.
Since Ohio’s child care programs reopened in June of last year, child care providers like you have done an outstanding job in implementing safety protocols to significantly limit the secondary spread of the virus. As a result, child care programs have been able to reliably serve our children and their working families.
We have heard you and we understand despite all that you have done to protect your staff, children and families that you still experience significant stressors like low enrollment and disruptions such as being required to shut a classroom or your entire program due to staff members contracting COVID-19 or being exposed and required to quarantine. This is further complicated because overall staffing of child care programs is seriously low and the ability to recruit new staff is hampered in part due to the increased risk of COVID-19 exposure.
For these reasons and so many more, 4C for Children continues to urge the Ohio Department of Health to prioritize child care professionals in its distribution plan so you and your fellow child care providers can receive voluntary vaccination sooner as the supply of vaccine to the state increases. This prioritization will help further decrease the possibility of spread and will ensure that child care programs can reduce the need to partially or fully close programs, create more stable staffing and offer reliable child care options to working families.
The challenges created by the pandemic have required endurance, creativity, patience and flexibility. Because of your commitment to respond to and rise above these challenges, families and children have retained access to child care providers and programs where they find happiness, comfort and safety in this otherwise unpredictable world.
4C for Children leadership continues to be actively involved in advocacy efforts on the state level around all COVID-19 issues related to child care providers, especially those issues around access to the vaccine. We stand by you.
As we become aware of information about vaccine distribution and any other relevant information we will pass it along to you immediately. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at agency@4cforchildren.org.
Be well.
4C for Children Leadership and Staff
To receive these updates via email, sign up for our Pathways email newsletter.