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.

Absolutely not arguing about nurses in frontline, depending on what frontline is deemed to be. The NHS employs a huge variety of people in very different roles. Their need will vary massively.

It is against the guidance to wear a mask. That said, I do and my DH also does. The DfE can take a running jump if they think I'm going to take my mask off in the classroom. I don't care if I get disciplined for it, I'll walk. I have noticed more and more staff have started getting jittery over the term and are now wearing masks.

If people want their kids in school teachers should absolutely be in line for priority for the vaccine. I know 4 people to have had it so far-all under 50 NHS. One GP who is doing mostly telephone consultations, one admin, one podiatrist and one ICU nurse. As a secondary teacher the only one I feel who has more risk than me is the ICU nurse. My GP friend agrees with me.

We don’t wear masks in primary- we are doing medical care, serving food and cleaning alongside teaching and sitting in small spaces without social distancing or PPE.

You are doing medical care without PPE?

And yes the disruption caused by one child Covid positive in a bubble is huge. Not going to help your nhs nurses working in ICU with childcare is it if their primary aged dc are constantly sent home to isolate.

@F1ftyF1fty

So if schools are deemed just “ a nice have” surely they need to be closed.

Question- are all the NHS staff working from home getting the vaccine in the first group? If so why are they getting it before education staff stuck all day in environments with high numbers of humans in small spaces and no social distancing.

These staff just considered “ a nice have” are supposed to be teaching and caring for children of all those getting vaccinated even if schools do close.

I get why those in direct contact with Covid patients should be first. I don’t get why those working from home should have it or even those working with patients who have been Covid tested prior to hospital admission and tested negative.

The staff who are working with non-covid patients are vital because if they're all at home self-isolating or if they become very sick, there will be no-one to treat their patients.

Teachers are vital, but less vital than doctors and nurses. I do think there should be more filtering of vaccine order by occupation, but I think we're a long way from getting to the stage where school staff will be vaccinated (at least in govt timescales, which seem to be to only consider what will happen in the next day or two).

'If people want their kids in school teachers should absolutely be in line for priority for the vaccine' it's this in a nutshell to me anyway. Argentina are prioritising healthcare workers, teachers and the army in that army and well done them.
My doctor friend agrees with yours!

@Bluebird2021

children shouldn't get it!! what a waste that would be

My 15 year old daughter has cerebral palsy and misses the vaccine by less than a year. Some children do need it actually

CEV and CV keyworkers should all be vaccinated asap. I don't want to push anyone down the list by being vaccinated earlier iyswim. But I'm CV teacher and I'm feeling like colleagues in my position are being let down. In theory in priority group 6. But that seems to far off with the way the pandemic is at the moment. My GP surgery hasn't started vaccinating priority group 1 yet (other surgeries near by have been for weeks) and we live in an area with a high older population.

[quote Doublefaced]@42isthemeaning Read the post above.
It’s not all about ‘me me me’
The majority of teachers do not work with CV people. To equate teachers with nurses in regards vaccination priorities is ridiculous and shows a real lack of understanding of WHY we have the priority list that we have.[/quote]
My point is that if we want schools to remain open, then staff need to be vaccinated. Obviously we need our hcps to be protected first and I'm not disputing that, but school staff are being decimated by this virus in some areas and it's only going to get worse.

How many teachers have been disciplined for wearing masks? I assume there are petitions of support for them? Can anybody link?

‘but school staff are being decimated by this virus in some areas and it's only going to get worse.’

What are the current rates of infection for teachers?

After those at risk of death or hospitalisation have been vaccinated teachers will be vaccinated in turn with the rest of the population.

Now a second vaccine has been approved it will happen faster.

Children will likely never be vaccinated.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland I've heard of two today who have died over the Christmas period. On LBC a caller phoned in two days ago about the death of her headmaster recently due to Covid. There are others. A female teacher (under 50) in Wales was in the local press. Will try and find links.

The government are not releasing stats about it since the last lot of stats during lockdown 1 (when most of the schools were limited to keyworker/vulnerable groups) and then it was around 180 workers in education. Of course the usual rubbish will be stated that 'they could have caught it anywhere'.

@Doublefaced

How many teachers have been disciplined for wearing masks? I assume there are petitions of support for them? Can anybody link?

In theory it could definitely happen. If you go against DfE guidance schools have got you over a barrel. Disciplinaries for a multitude of things are very very common in schools.

@F1ftyF1fty

School staff worked all through lock down.

I’d love to have similar conditions to supermarket workers and be working in a supermarket sized room behind a screen and wearing a mask whilst socially distancing and not doing close care but unfortunately the job dictates I can’t.

Trust me in RL school staff are worried. We get on with it just like MNing school staff do. Doesn’t make it right.

I just want to say I think this was so well said, and I agree with every word. I literally can’t think of another job right now where you have to be in such close contact indoors with large groups of people, and no PPE is allowed or used.

I’m a TA with 2 auto immune conditions. I probably should be group 6 however I only take a DMARD not an immunosuppressant for my RA so don’t “qualify”. Yet I’m in class with 30 small children who are incapable of social distancing. I’ve worked all the way through looking after keyworker children and I’ve been quite blasé about the whole thing but even I’m getting scared now. I really think we should be higher up the list.

‘In theory it could definitely happen. If you go against DfE guidance schools have got you over a barrel. Disciplinaries for a multitude of things are very very common in schools.’

Have you any links to current disciplinary proceedings regarding mask wearing? Thanks.

Why on earth do people keep going on about vaccinating children when it’s not been tested on them?

Do you honestly think that is a sensible idea?!?!

Who are you expecting to overtake in the que OP??? There’s plenty of people still having to wait their turn give them chance

If you look to those high case areas, when staff become sick or are identified as close contacts of positive cases they need to isolate and this can quickly lead to whole school closures due to staffing levels being too low to cope.

Once vaccinated, you still need to isolate if you have been in close contact with a positive case. The vaccine stops you becoming very ill from the virus, it is not 100% effective, it does not stop you having it and spreading it to someone not vaccinated.

This is exactly why priority groups such as nhs frontline and clinically vulnerable are first.

‘Of course the usual rubbish will be stated that 'they could have caught it anywhere'.’

Why is that ‘rubbish’? It’s factually correct?

@Doublefaced

‘Of course the usual rubbish will be stated that 'they could have caught it anywhere'.’

Why is that ‘rubbish’? It’s factually correct?

Deliberately being obtuse. Yes of course in theory but in reality if you are spending days in close contact with others in poorly ventilated small rooms (so much evidence that this is where the virus thrives) and that children are now known to be vectors for the disease with rates as high as 2,100 per 100,000 in primary and 2,800 per 100,000 in secondary do you think it was caught when popping to the shops? Check out PHE's own data for transmission and outbreak occurrence.

And yes we are doing medical care without PPE. Due to bubbles staff have to do be everything. Dinner leaders, cleaners, playground monitors, medical care etc. There isn’t time to don ppe( which doesn’t seem to exist in schools anyway) and leave playgrounds full of children for every scraped knee.We are working in freezing, isolated snd stretched conditions. A bit of empathy and appreciation wouldn’t go amiss but I’d happily pass it up for a reasonable time frame for vaccination if expected to work in this kind of environment during this current surge.

@Doublefaced

Here's one link:

www.google.com/amp/s/www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/tributes-paid-much-loved-inspirational-19536602.amp

I haven't got the time or inclination to find others at the moment as I've got lessons to prepare and the need to constantly ask for 'links, links' is very convenient for those who close their ears to the hundreds of testimonies of teachers on here day after day. Quite frankly I cba with goady people.

@WeAllHaveWings do you have a source for that regarding isolating? Haven't seen that anywhere and if true that will be dropped quickly I imagine.