Give teachers higher jab priority

CALLS for teachers to have early access to vaccines so schools can open as quickly as possible are growing, with MPs urging the Government to act now.

It comes as more than 362,000 people signed a petition calling for teaching and childcare staff to be higher up the priority list, saying it was ‘a critical step’. Last night, it was announced that the issue would be debated in Parliament tomorrow.

Tory MP Robert Halfon, chairman of the Commons Education Select Committee, said the campaign to prioritise teachers in the vaccine rollout has put pressure on the Government to change its plan. He added: ‘MPs have raised this with the Health Secretary and the Schools Minister and I believe this is something they are considering. The priority must be to get children learning and schools open.

‘I’ve proposed that, like blood-donor vans, there would be vans supported by either the military/local authorities driving around to give teachers and support staff the chance to be tested and vaccinated.’

Teachers are tenth on the priority list. The Independent Schools Council and Cognita, a private schools group, want Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to move them up the queue to let schools reopen.