Are any other teachers considering not returning to work until after they have vaccine...

[RoseTintedAtuin]

And other protections have been provided for them and students?
I have asked my DH not to go back to work in schools until after he has been vaccinated and until measures are in place to allow them to social distance and protect children and staff.
I have seen many threads of parents who simply cannot cope without their children attending schools and I understand this (and ideally would support schools being open in a safe manner). However the right to education for children does not trump the right to be safe at work.
I feel we as a society have failed teachers and pupils by allowing/expecting them to continue to work in an unsustainable manner throughout this pandemic.
I do not want my DH to be at risk, and I wonder how many other teachers/spouses of teachers are feeling the same? Are any others considering leaving the profession even temporarily until their safety is made more of a consideration?

‘You know that, much like teachers in a pandemic, hashtags don’t work on this website?’

Quote of the year

I’m contemplating not going back at all!

@Toomuchtodo21 Thank you for all you do. I have a couple of GP friends who are working on the vaccination teams. They are going to have to stop now as they can’t manage that plus their normal GP hours with the shortened school hours. I’ve got another friend who is a social worker who has been refused key worker care because her husband isn’t a key worker but he can’t WFH. Teachers seem to have no idea what they have done.

@Toomuchtodo21

I hope your shift tonight isn’t too awful and you get some sleep before the next one.

Also hope your little girl has fun with her grandparents and will remember the fun times in this, and not the reality.

@MarshaBradyo notice is 4 working weeks in Scotland but schools look like they will be closed until February now so...

I agree with the poster above who says teachers need to get on with it. Just like workers in supermarkets and all the other key workers. Teachers always complain about everything - I can’t remember that ever being different for years and years. They should do their bit and not say fuck the children who won’t get education or support if stuck at home, and fuck key workers and their children. I don’t know why teachers think they are a special case.

Retired teacher here...never thought I would be ashamed to admit it. Resign if you don’t want to do the job, going off with stress long term for this reason is shocking. Online provision in the state system seems to have been very mixed to say the least. We’re in an unprecedented situation, there seems to have been an ‘oh but’ mentality all the way through.

Children and staff should be wearing masks from year 1 as they are in Europe. Schools should be enforcing this, which is not happening even in many secondaries. Presumably u.k children are not wildly different from those overseas.

Thank heavens medical staff and others are not taking this attitude.

@Toomuchtodo21
I am sending you hugs, and thanks.
I am also sering covid pos patients with plastic apron, a paper mask and my glasses as eye protection
My dsd has a weekly online psychology session.. Her therapist has had the vaccination as deemed clinical worker.. In primary care.. We have been told not priority clinical staff.... So I understand your upset, angst etc.
Luckily my dd and dsd are sixth form and able to get on with it... I would not have been able to work, if they were younger

Teachers aren't refusing to work altogether. They are refusing to teach face to face.
There's a difference. It isn't unreasonable to exercise the right to feel safe in a workplace. Alot of you are talking about other key workers not complaining. You do realise that working in a poorly ventilated, small space with 30 small bug spreading children is very different to someone serving behind a shop counter with a screen, masks, good ventilation and social distancing. This is for 6 hours a day. Do police break up crowds 6 hours every day? I sincerely hope not.

I could go on.

With regards to the OPs concerns, I don't think teachers should be top priority, but they do need bumping up the list along with other key workers who are working in poorly ventilated, crowded and close conditions.
What we need to be doing to achieve this is speed up the vaccine program and remove all the red tape around who can administer it. For god sake I inject myself with blood thinners daily and have done for years. It isn't difficult. Nobody has ever supervised me doing it. I get a leaflet and that's it.

Teachers will probably continue to refuse to work unless rates come down enough to feel more comfortable or they get a vaccine.
Whether you like it or not, the gov will have to respond to this if they want schools reopening.
Maybe this pressure will benefit everyone of it means they pull their finger out and get vaccinating quicker.

Refusing to work in school that is!

I feel very unsafe (I’m a teacher). I would be happy to pay for my own vaccine to get it sooner than 2022 so I could continue working, If we are unable to pay to get a vaccine, are not deemed worthy to be given the vaccine and forced to work in an unsafe working environment, I would consider handing my notice in although I would struggle financially. Dead is Dead though.

For those of you who keep mentioning the prison service, supermarket workers, delivery drivers etc etc, their situation is very different but I don’t think we should congratulate them on working if their jobs are unsafe. Your actions encourage them to martyr themselves for you which is shameful. They should also have safe working environments and I would be delighted to hear they were taking a stand, even if it made my life more difficult. If you are in those professions, please look after yourselves as I can guarantee there will be no help given to your families or you if you die or suffer long Covid and can’t work. I think a lot of people are judging whilst they are sitting safely at home...

[quote RoseTintedAtuin]@MarshaBradyo notice is 4 working weeks in Scotland but schools look like they will be closed until February now so...[/quote]
Ok that is shorter and sounds like he can exit without having to go back in.

Can I ask when vaccine is rolled out to phase 1 and everything opens up will he participate? Say theatre, restaurants, holidays if other countries have us etc or will he avoid it all until he gets vaccine?

(Assuming he’s not phase 1)

@Disneyblue you might self inject enoxiparin with an prefilled syringe but the fact that you therefore state that giving a vaccine is easy shows just why not just anyone can give it that’s ever held a needle ever and the stabbing in the arm is the easy bit

1. Blood thinners go subcuetously (into fat) vaccines go intramuscular (into muscle) so different place and different techniques
2. I’m assuming someone prescribed your medicine, someone will need to prescribe (of check the pgd) for every vaccine given checking medical records etc if needed - this is what takes time
3. It’s not in a pre filled syringe that has a tiny. Sc needle already on it it’s in a multi dose vial that needs (defrosting if Pfizer)diluting, mixing (but not too much if Pfizer as that stops it working) drawing up individual doses and changing to a giving needle
4. It causes anaphylaxis in some people and it’s a new drug (unlike enoxiparin or the flu jab) so it needs someone with the qualifications to resuscitate the patient if it goes wrong

I’m not saying that only nurses and drs can give (pharmacists, midwifes, vets, dentists etc would all be fine as they know this stuff) but it’s not just as simple as stick a needle in everyone

And I’m not sure the last time you were in an acute hospital ward but poorly ventilated basement with 30+ People in it some of who have confirmed covid kind of sums it up (and in the case of my last job with dementia patients there was no social distancing or mask wearing either)

And prison service....pooorly ventilated small space with people who won’t wear masks or cooperate sounds like prison me thinks

Vaccine predictor suggests Feb 2022 for me and I have CFS already so that's great!

So worried about long Covid.

@Toomuchtodo21

And prison service....pooorly ventilated small space with people who won’t wear masks or cooperate sounds like prison me thinks

Fair enough about the vaccinating part. You talk about hospital wards. They are getting priority for vaccination, so not sure what your argument is? Also, for prisons, only the staff can bring it in unless they have new prisoners. Children go home and come back every day and have mixed with their families. There's a stark difference.

@BustopherPonsonbyJones I don't think asking people to show up for work is comparable to asking people to martyr themselves. I think it's a desire for society to continue functioning.
And no I don't say this sitting safely from home, I say this as someone working within a service that even within 'normal times' people get killed or seriously injured in their job. Oh and many people don't even bat an eyelid when this does happen, thankfully we do look after each other in this job.

@MarshaBradyo that’s a good question. No, I can’t see him rushing to theatre etc. he can take it or leave such things. I’m the one that miss them. The only thing that I would grab as quickly as I can would be seeing my family and by the time he is vaccinated they likely will be too.

Do police break up crowds 6 hours every day?

Frequently. Then there’s custody suites, interview rooms, hospitals, mental health suites. Going into on average about five different houses a day. I had someone spit in my face last week.

@twinklespells I'm not prepared to have the Pfizer one as long as I'm breastfeeding. This will be for at least three years. I'll wait and review the evidence re the Oxford vaccine.

I take it you've been eating all year?
Do you are happy for factories,supermarkets, delivery workers to keep going
You'll want health care when needed, someone to deliver the vaccine?
Someone to empty your bins, police the streets, provide utilities
Why are you so special?

Disney blue I work on maternity currently. Patients there are not going to be vaccinated due to being pregnant. My hospital is not vaccinating all inpatients anyway just those that are over 80 currently and dosent have plans to vaccinate - anyway the patients in the hospital already have covid. Hospital staff are not being vaccinated here yet unless they are cev and then they get the “spare” - the extra possible 6th dose in the vial (there isn’t always one which is why it is not allocated to a patient over 80). Rest of us will be feb maybe.

@BustopherPonsonbyJones I’m sorry your in this position too. I’m so sorry that it has been allowed to get to this place but I agree dead is dead and long Covid is a big unknown in how it can affect health

@angstridden2

Retired teacher here...never thought I would be ashamed to admit it. Resign if you don’t want to do the job, going off with stress long term for this reason is shocking. Online provision in the state system seems to have been very mixed to say the least. We’re in an unprecedented situation, there seems to have been an ‘oh but’ mentality all the way through.

Children and staff should be wearing masks from year 1 as they are in Europe. Schools should be enforcing this, which is not happening even in many secondaries. Presumably u.k children are not wildly different from those overseas.

Thank heavens medical staff and others are not taking this attitude.

The government have said no masks in the classroom and many (most) primaries do not have mask-wearing at all. This is mainly thanks to Us4Them who have campaigned for schools back as normal with no protective measures. If schools had been allowed masks, to make classes smaller, use of non-school premises or any of the suggestions I've seen teachers on here make, then they probably wouldn't have felt they had to use Section 44.

I really do feel that the propaganda of and government meetings with U4T has had a big part of the issue with schools now.

KatherineofGaunt
Agree re government’s stance on masks, using other spaces to reduce class sizes etc. It’s been ridiculously unimaginative and I just don’t understand their position on masks. I also don’t understand why the DoE haven’t spent the past few months commissioning recorded lessons for the various year groups presented by teachers with experience and proven talent in this area to be used now.some schools have done brilliantly, many seem to have very poor.

I still stand by my comment on the ‘oh but...’ reaction to many suggestions made and still feel that if you aren’t prepared to do the job for which you’re being paid, you should do what the OP’s husband is doing and resign, not play the system.