The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Union backs vaccination at primaries
The head of Scotland’s biggest teaching union said children over the age of five should be offered the Covid-19 vaccine to tackle the spread of the virus in schools.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommends only those over 12 are offered a jab.
But Larry Flanagan, the general secretary of the EIS, said he wanted vaccines to be offered to younger school pupils.
The vaccine is not recommended by the JCVI for children between five and 12; however, the US has started to offer the jab to younger people.
Mr Flanagan told the Covid-19 recovery committee at Holyrood: “We are in favour of young people being offered that vaccine and we’ve said so at Serg (Scottish Education Recovery Group).
“I was surprised to discover at Serg that there is apparently no licensed vaccines by age group in the UK at the moment, although clearly the USA have started vaccinating that particular group.
“Hopefully, there’s some work going on to make sure that a decision is taken to allow that age group to be vaccinated.”
While Mr Flanagan said he wanted to see offers of vaccination made, he said the ultimate decision would be made between children and their families.
But Margaret Wilson, chairwoman of the National Parent Forum of Scotland, said there were “quite huge concerns” from parents about the vaccine.
“Luckily, we work in partnership with Public Health Scotland to answer the parents’ concerns,” she said.
“But as Larry’s just said, it’ll be down to personal choice.”
Mr Flanagan also said he would like to see face coverings remain in place in schools throughout the winter.
“The majority of our members feel that face coverings should be in place over the winter period,” he told MSPs, previewing a survey of teachers due to be released next week.
Mr Flanagan suggested that the face covering mandate in secondary schools could also be lifted when vaccination rates reach 90% in pupils.
Meanwhile, thousands of people in Scotland are still alive today because of the coronavirus vaccine, a new study has said.
Authors of a World Health Organisation led paper, published yesterday in Eurosurveillance, estimated that 27,656 people, who were aged 60 or older, have been saved in Scotland because of the rollout of the coronavirus jag from December 2020 to November this year.
Dr Jim McMenamin, the head of health protection infection services at Public Health Scotland, said: “This important study shows that thanks to high vaccine uptake among the people of Scotland, an early implementation, the Covid-19 vaccination programme is estimated to have saved more than 27,000 lives in Scotland.”