To want to know when school staff and children are going to have Covid vaccinations

[F1ftyF1fty]

I work in a primary school. I have dc in school.

Given the current surge I frankly don’t want to return to school next week and sit in a squashed classroom amongst 30 children all day without PPE or social distancing. I don’t want my dc in a similar environment.

There is now a vaccine but my age group seem to be way down the list. Surely school staff and children should be higher up the list and at the very least have some indication of when they will be vaccinated.

Care home residents are not yet receiving the vaccine and nor are most carers, so there’s a long way to go until anyone in younger age groups gets one unless they are HC workers.

To state the flipping obvious: the worry with schools is that kids spread the virus to all households, not just to teachers. Therefore everyone connected to schools should be vaccinated. If that doesn’t include children it should include parents. What’s the good in just vaccinating teachers? Schools need to be safe for everyone, not just for staff.

But there must be a strong argument for giving it to workers such as teachers, nursery nurses, bus drivers etc before the elderly who live in their own home. Elderly in their own homes don't live in a bubble.

@kowari

Healthy children don't need it. Healthy young adults don't need it. It should go to those most at risk of hospitalisation and dying.

absolutely!!!

@kowari

Healthy children don't need it. Healthy young adults don't need it. It should go to those most at risk of hospitalisation and dying.

This. It’s well publicised

I do not see it as selfish at all. It is a matter of risk.
They did start with the older group straight away.
Then carers and NHS. The highest risk in the priority group.
I think it makes sense to go with the higher risk priority workers next. Which will include teaching staff.
And with the higher spreading and health risks too. And schools are blamed for being a main contributor to the spread. But ..... no vaccine for them.
It is not the first time we have a vaccine in history. We all know how it works. We all know that vaccinated individuals do stop the spread.
But when it comes to covid, nothing follows the general rules!

But there must be a strong argument for giving it to workers such as teachers, nursery nurses, bus drivers etc before the elderly who live in their own home

No there isn’t! Elderly people are the worst effected! My 88 year old grandmother has spent nearly a year locked away in her home scared to death she is going to die of it - and she bloody well might! She’s just had her first injection, gets her 2nd soon and can’t wait just to get out of the house and get ok the bus and start living what very little of her life she’s got left!

I'd happily see teachers being given priority for the vaccine, and I say that as a nurse. Teachers are critical workers, I want my children educated and they are the ones who should be doing it. They need to be kept safe.

It's pretty unfair that my employer emailed me a few days ago to say I could book my vaccination appointment now despite

1. Me being on maternity leave, and will be until the end of next year.
2. In a non clinical role (despite my nursing background I have literally nothing to do with patients).

As it is I can't have the vaccine as I'm breastfeeding, however my employer doesn't know that.

Deciding the order of priority for vaccination is a tough call, but the government’s are adamant that education is a priority

A priority, yes, but the priority is NHS, and to prevent the collapse of healthcare, we need the extremely vulnerable and the elderly to be vaccinated asap.

Not all teachers are high risk

Ds teacher is 25 and absolutely should not get it above a 65 year old with diabetes that’s crazy

Risk equates to the person not the job

Healthy young adults may not be likely to be hospitalised when they get it, but those healthy young adults are going to need time off work.

If governments are going to insist on keeping schools open (which we don’t know 100% yet if they are) then they should commit to the education being provided to be of a high quality which needs consistency of teaching. Not supply teachers or PE teacher’s standing in to teach a GCSE music class - which my dc has had for several weeks. Current year 10’s are having no exceptions made for their exams but are still caught up in the lack of proper teaching.

So they need to close schools then.

Teachers are way down list

Here in NW we only got our guest batch yesterday of 1000 for 4 towns! My nhs mates who work in itu haven’t even had it yet teachers have no chance

Secure settings like care home and even prisons will get it first as they’re sitting ducks

It would be grossly unfair for staff to be vaccinated and then to demand that kids attend school when their families aren’t protected. I know six families who contracted Covid through primary schools in the last week of term. One parent is now in ICU, two are seriously unwell.

The priority has to be to get overall rates down, not to play God with who gets to live and who gets to die.

Guest = first

Guest= first

How about we bump up ECV people of working age up the list. That will mean that those teachers most at risk of serious illness will get the jab,

The vaccine must surely be given to those most likely to die from Covid, not just those most likely to catch it. So whilst I appreciate it's incredibly difficult for teachers to work in close proximity to so many people without ppe, I don't see why they should jump the queue ahead of the vulnerable or very elderly personally. Online learning, blended working, PPE etc are other options to be considered again perhaps.

And if prioritising teachers, there are other jobs which would require it too - it would be all nursery workers, police, etc, and that would mean the vulnerable waiting quite a bit longer for protection.

Risk equates to the person not the job

In principal I agree with this, except in the instances where the job is a vector which accelerates the spread among vulnerable people:

Healthcare workers by very nature are working with vulnerable people. Carers are working with vulnerable people. Teachers are not working with vulnerable people, but they will be vaccinated if they are vulnerable. That’s why they’re not a priority group.

@Weallliveinamonkeysubmarine I’d very much support all the emergency services having priority vaccines. They are potential vectors and they work in close contact with vulnerable people. It’s not the same as teachers and nursery workers.

Exactly

No job needs to be prioritised except vulnerable

Healthcare are higher because of the high volume of covid they’re exposed too all at once - as in the amount of virus a patient had by time they go to hospital plus obviously avoiding spread to vulnerables

If teachers are deemed at risk they will be vaccinated as per that risk not just because they’re a teacher

And yes, even healthy, young HCP should be getting the jab, because without staff, the Covid wards can't function, and the death rates will increase because the NHS will not be able to cope. And because it's likely to reduce the risk of spreading Covid to other patients.

@Weallliveinamonkeysubmarine

And yes, even healthy, young HCP should be getting the jab, because without staff, the Covid wards can't function, and the death rates will increase because the NHS will not be able to cope. And because it's likely to reduce the risk of spreading Covid to other patients.

Essentially this.

But the vast majority of health care workers aren’t on Covid wards. They’re certainly not squashed into small rooms with 30 other humans all day with no PPE or social distancing. Even my GP is hardly doing any face to face with 1 other human let alone 30 and even then he is in full PPE as are patients after having had temp, sanitiser and mask checks socially distancing at all times.

In the Trust I work in its being offered to all staff on a first come first served basis.

I do think teachers/school staff should be high up the list.

Genuine question, why are teachers/TAs not wearing PPE?

I'm a CEV teacher who is expected to go in, maskless, and teach...
I'm also an Epipen carrier so I cannot have the current vaccine.
It's all very scary and school staff should be vaccinated relatively quickly but where does this leave someone like me?

aYes I agree teachers should be a priority. But not children