Schools closing for flu

[Busydoingsomething]

A school near me has partially closed due to staff shortages. Another has cancelled all performances. Some of the children will have been vaccinated but I suspect, lots of the staff won’t have been. I was listening to 2 people today, on the train, discussing whether school staff should be vaccinated, to prevent the staff being off and impacting on education. Wondering if this would be a good move.

@icannotbelievethis why is it so hard for people to understand that when you don't have the money, you don't have the money??!!
Every month we are going in to debt to pay to live. Dh was made redundant over 8 months ago. There are no jobs out there. There is no spare money. If there was, it would go towards the boiler service that we couldnt afford this year, or the car service that we couldn't afford this year, or a new pair of boots for work as my current ones have holes in them. A £15 vaccine purely for me is not a priority when there are so many other things that we just can't afford!!

Just accept they might be ill during their mocks
It's not going to be the end of the world.

You are acting like you didn't have a choice but you absolutely did

I’m shocked at this. I thought nasal flu jabs were offered to all kids at school and you had to opt out. So a majority of parents are consciously opting out??

How do you know

You need to sign a consent, if they aren't returned they can't vaccinate

This is a logistically terrible idea.

No you have to actuvely opt in. At our kids school you have to follow a QR code in the school newsletter - the form is relatively simple but it does require you to pay some attention to the school notices. In the past kids bought home paper forms. I dont know which led to greater take up.

I work in school kitchens for the council and we always get offered it for free. Surely the teachers should be as well??

No, this won't fly. You could afford it, but you didn't prioritise it.

This is great to hear! What country are you in @Caspianberg ? Good to know somewhere has taken on the lessons from covid and is applying airborne mitigations which we know work to lessen transmission!

No Asda for miles!

I am done anyway so don't need to travel 30 miles as I had mine done in Tesco in October.

The current vaccine doesn’t work with this strain of flu. They plan and start manufacturing the vaccine around February for the following season. s strain mutated around July so the vaccine is ineffective. All the children and staff could be vaccinated and it would make no difference.

@Notmymarmosets No didn't prioritise it. That wasn't something that factored in to my monthly spending. It's not a priority for me. Food and bills are a priority, that will never change.

Remember during Covid that teachers weren't prioritised for the Covid vaccine, and that was an actual pandemic. We were told we were selfish if we wanted it because other people were more important.

We were also bombarded with messaging that Covid didn't spread in schools and that teachers weren't at any higher risk than the rest of the population. Remember the whole 'Covid won't spread in schools because the children are facing forward' messaging? And there were lots of people blasting anyone who wanted children vaccinated to protect others and stop the spread?

And now teachers are supposed to prioritise vaccines for themselves because schools are hotbeds of germs and at risk of closure from illness? And parents are supposed to consent to vaccines for their children?

Mixed messaging much.

As in pp you have to consent to get it.

Do they? No school I've ever worked in has.

That's really shocking if true.

Why are people so resistant to vaccination? I was nearly hospitalised when I had measles as a toddler, do people not realise how serious some of these illnesses can be?

They opt out or just don’t return the form.

I’m shocked at this. I thought nasal flu jabs were offered to all kids at school and you had to opt out. So a majority of parents are consciously opting out??

No, that's not correct. The school nurse doesn't just come in and vaccinate children unless their parents had opted out.

Parents have to sign a consent form linked to a QR code if they want their child vaccinated. If the form hasn't been completed, the jab doesn't happen.

I think most teachers in my school would take up the jab if offered at school, but it never has been.

Every one of them? Are you sure?

The Government stopped offering a free Flu vaccine to over 50s (a fair chunk of the working population) 2 years ago. Its now for over 64's (as well as other "compromised" groups).
I had no idea last year until I went to book it online at Boots/Asda/Tesco to find very quietly the Government had done this. Other friends over 50 but under 64 also had no idea.

Fine, I can afford the £15 to £20 for a private jab. I had done since I was about 40 but what ive noticed since they've dropped the free over 50s jab is trying to get the jab early is an issue. I always used to get mine (private) 1st week October but in alot of places its only available to free NHS at that point. I guess if supply is an issue that makes absolute sense. I booked this years jab mid Oct for end of November (1st available date). I cant drive atm so I was limited on choice - basically my local Tesco.

Weirdly my local Boots claims its offering private jabs but since September every date up until Xmas says unavailable.

Basically since they've reduced the free jab availability there also seems to be limited private availability- it just seems harder to get booked in. Last year I missed it completely.

For anyone still looking to get a jab I would suggest looking at Asda website. Lots of appointments this weekend.
My partner had booked his last night for Sunday morning in Asda, albeit not our local one, its 20 miles away.

The flu virus has a mutation which means that the vaccination is not as effective.
These staff could have all had the vaccination but have picked up the mutated virus - I am not sure why people aren’t understanding that.

It can also take 2 weeks to have an effect even when it does work.
And many teachers can’t get time off work to go and have it.

Some people will find any reason to bash teachers.

It wouldn't make much of a difference due to the strain of flu going about the vaccine definitely helps reduce the symptom severity but wouldn't stop people getting it.

Yep. The amount of bs we were told by authorities who had my default trust up until that point is eye-watering. They'll never get their authority back having abused it so much.

Whereas I've NEVER been offered it as a school worker.