On December 22, 2020, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) issued guidelines for the allocation of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) vaccine. Childcare providers and K-12 school teachers, as designated ‘frontline essential workers,’ were recommended for early vaccination. Despite ACIP recommendations, some states chose only to prioritize school teachers, sending the message that childcare providers’ occupational risk was less than that of school teachers and other frontline essential workers. More recently, on August 11, 2021, California became the first state to require COVID-19 vaccination of school teachers, but excluded childcare providers. To better understand this emerging disparity, we characterize state vaccine mandates for childcare providers versus school teachers. (author abstract)