Expert calls for jabs of pupils aged 5

A leading public health expert has called for primary school pupils to be vaccinated against coronavirus in a bid to spare schools from soaring pupil and staff absences.

Professor Linda Bauld’s comments came after some schools across Scotland were forced to close last week due to the prevalence of the new omicron variant in the community.

Prof Bauld, the Scottish

Government’s social policy adviser, said: “I think it would be reasonable to extend eligibility to all five- to 12-yearolds. That would help avoid them being absent from school.

“While the health risks are tiny, you would prevent a small number of paediatric admissions. They don’t miss learning, they don’t become unwell and you are also helping to reduce levels of the virus in the community.” that young people have experienced.

The news comes as a teacher and education campaigner criticised the Scottish Government for not developing a robust ventilation system in schools almost two years on in the pandemic.

Nuzhat Uthmani, of Scottish Teachers for Positive Change and Wellbeing (STPCW), a Facebook group “to empower educators”, said it is “unfathomable” that, for a second winter, staff are having to keep doors and windows open, and ask pupils to layer up their clothes.

She said it is “shocking” that ministers are not investing in air filtration units in schools to help keep them safer from Covid spreading further.

Ms Uthmani said: “It is unacceptable at this point in the pandemic for schools to have to tell their young people at the start of term to dress warmly.

“A number of schools have had to say that because windows and doors need to be kept open because we have nothing else.”

She added: “It seems unfathomable that schools are having to ask children to dress warmly as opposed to the government putting things in place.”

Ms Uthmani, a primary school teacher who is also a Glasgow rep with the Educational Institute of Scotland teachers’ union, said members of STPCW have written a letter to Holyrood ministers and opposition MSPS raising their concerns about what little has been done to install better ventilation systems.

She said the group has had