Teachers may be moved up the jab queue, hints Hancock
miNiSTERS last night admitted teachers had a ‘very strong case’ to move up the queue for a coronavirus jab to help reopen schools.
Two senior Tories said those working in schools should receive the vaccine alongside frontline NHS workers, who are second only in the priority list to care home residents and staff.
Robert Halfon, chairman of the education select committee, called for mobile units around the uK to vaccinate teachers and support staff such as caretakers and dinner ladies. Former education secretary Lord Baker said the vaccinations should take place in the next six weeks to make schools as safe as hospitals.
However, Health Secretary matt Hancock
‘We have a hierarchy of needs’
told MPS that teachers should only get the jabs after the top nine priority groups, including everyone aged over 50. This means they would not receive jabs until at least Easter.
The scheduled reopening of schools this month was delayed, then scrapped, as Boris Johnson introduced a third lockdown to combat the new mutant strain of Covid-19.
mr Hancock said yesterday: ‘ We are considering – once we have vaccinated those who are clinically vulnerable – who then should be the next priority for vaccination. And teachers, of course, have got a very strong case, as have those who work in nurseries.’
deputy chief medical officer dr Jenny Harries also suggested teachers could get some priority – but only after the first nine groups. She told MPS: ‘ We have a hierarchy of needs. of course, we will consider it.’
mr Halfon wants teachers to receive the jab at the same time as health and social care workers, who are second on the priority list. ‘The sooner we get schools reopened, the better,’ he said. ‘i’d like to see mobile units going up and down the country like blood donor vans do, stopping outside schools and giving jabs to teachers.’
Lord Baker said: ‘if the virus is still rampant in February, the Government will have very little option but to keep schools closed for longer. The only way out of that is by making schools safe places to go – just as safe as hospitals.
‘on one hand, they should test students once a day. This might take an hour a day, but it could be put in place and would be a definite improvement.
‘But what would really make a difference is if all the adults in schools received the vaccine, whether they are teachers, teaching assistants, dinner ladies or administrative staff, in the next six weeks.
‘They are aiming to vaccinate two million people a week so surely these could be fitted in?
‘We should make schools just as safe as hospitals as they are just as crucial to our national life.’ A petition calling for the vaccine prioritisation of teachers, school and childcare staff passed 300,000 signatures on the parliamentary website – meaning the issue is eligible for a Commons debate.
Leonor Stjepic, of the montessori nurseries group, said: ‘We urge the Government to recognise teachers and early years professionals as key frontline workers and prioritise them for the Covid-19 vaccine.
‘School and nursery staff have been at the front line of the pandemic since last march, providing vital support to parents and educating children, but this has not been recognised.
‘To ensure their safety, and the continuity of education for children, it is only fair that they should be classed as key workers and put at the front of the queue for the vaccine.’
Joseph Spence, headmaster of dulwich College in south London, said: ‘i will be lobbying for teachers and those working in schools to have early access to the vaccine so that we can ensure that all schools in the UK are safe spaces.
‘This is not the self-interest of the teacher. only when schools are open again, and safely so, can we begin to work towards a broader opening of the economy and support the wellbeing of all families.’
The National Education union said: ‘All education staff over 45 should be prioritised, in the first instance, in line with NHS and care workers, for Covid-19 vaccination.’
Liberal democrat education spokesman daisy Cooper said: ‘Teachers and school staff have put themselves at enormous risk during this pandemic in order to keep schools open. Now that the Prime minister has finally admitted that schools are at the epicentre of high community Covid transmission, teachers must be given priority access to the vaccine.’
‘Crucial to our national life’