Teachers get ready to roll up their sleeves – for jabs

Teachers will start receiving the Covid-19 vaccine in less than 72 hours as the educational roll-out kicks off – but is it too little too late?

Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga announced on Friday schools will not close earlier, despite the current third wave of Covid-19 hitting schools hard.

Motshekga announced, instead, the roll-out of the vaccines secured for the basic education sector will start as early as Wednesday.

This follows a special meeting with the Council of Education Ministers (CEM) about the third wave of infections and the latest developments regarding the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The CEM welcomed the announcement by the Acting Minister of Health Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane that the sector could now proceed with vaccinating educators and support staff until

8 July.

Those to be vaccinated include all staff from the department, educators, administrative and support staff at all public schools. Other persons to be vaccinated include school governing body-appointed teachers and those employed by independent schools registered in terms of the SA Schools Act. The department aims to vaccinate 582 000 people over 10 to 14 days. The only exclusions include people who have contracted Covid-19 in the past 30 days, or those who have been vaccinated by another vaccine or have received the flu vaccine in the past 14 days. The vaccination programme will also cover staff transporting children to and from schools and staff who support school feeding scheme, such as food handlers. Teacher union members and contracted staff who provide security, cleaning and other functions at schools will also be vaccinated.

Professor Alex van den Heever, from the Wits University School of Governance, said vaccinating the educational sector will help in about two months.

“But it won’t make a difference now. It will help prevent severe illness among teachers,” Van den Heever said.

The roll-out won’t stop schools from being vectors for high levels of transmission as the children and their families won’t be vaccinated, he said.

Democratic Alliance Gauteng shadow MEC for health Jack Bloom said the vaccine roll-out could be a big advantage for the sector if it planned properly.

“However they can’t take resources away from other departments or slow down the current roll-out process,” Bloom said.

Mugwena Maluleke, general secretary of the South African Democratic Teacher Union (Sadtu) said the union welcomes the announcement of the roll-out.

“This is the combination of long and tedious consultations between ourselves and the minister and the department,” Maluleke said.

Maluleke said the leadership of Sadtu will be taking a leading role by going for the vaccination.

“We believe the vaccine works and will protect us and our communities and our future.”

It will help prevent severe illness among teachers