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Vaccine Passport Ethics | Walton Fellowship Teachers

Woman seated (right) while receiving COVID-19 vaccination in February 2021.
Carlos Moreno/KCUR 89.3
The U.S. government has decided to leave laws pertaining to vaccine passports up to the states.

Missouri's lawmakers are debating banning vaccine passports and first-year educators discuss their experience teaching in the COVID-era.

Segment 1, beginning at 00:54: As more Americans receive COVID-19 vaccines, state legislatures are debating whether they should implement a vaccine passport system.

While proof of vaccination has the potential to get us back to normalcy more quickly, it can also exacerbate the inequities in the American vaccine distribution system. We discuss the ethics of vaccine passports, and the steps Republicans in Missouri's legislature are taking to prevent them.

Segment 2, beginning at 24:48: The student population in this country is growing more diverse, and there are advantages to having teachers who reflect that diversity.

Two fellows from the Walton Family Foundation's teacher diversity initiative describe their first experiences teaching that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Maria Martinez, Emporia State student, teaching kindergarten at Mark Twain Elementary in Kansas City, Kansas.
  • Khalil Jones, UMKC student, teaching at East High School, Kansas City, Missouri.
When I host Up To Date each morning at 9, my aim is to engage the community in conversations about the Kansas City area’s challenges, hopes and opportunities. I try to ask the questions that listeners want answered about the day’s most pressing issues and provide a place for residents to engage directly with newsmakers. Reach me at steve@kcur.org or on Twitter @stevekraske.
As Up To Date’s senior producer, I want to pique the curiosity of Kansas Citians and help them understand the world around them. Each day, I construct conversations with our city’s most innovative visionaries and creatives, while striving to hold elected officials accountable and amplifying the voices of everyday Kansas Citians. Email me at zach@kcur.org.
As senior producer of Up To Date, I want our listeners to hear familiar and new voices that shine light on the issues and challenges facing the myriad communities KCUR serves, and to expose our audiences to the wonderful and the creative in the Kansas City area. Just as important to me is an obligation to mentor the next generation of producers to ensure that the important conversations continue. Reach me at alexanderdk@kcur.org.