12-15 year olds vaccination program

[Dustyboots]

Will this mean school is closed/ disrupted again to roll this out?

Is it definitely going ahead? If it is in schools, I don't think they'll close for it, just have nurses in as they do for other vaccinations.

www.theguardian.com/society/2021/sep/11/covid-jabs-for-12--to-15-year-olds-set-to-start-in-weeks

Well, I’ve just read this and heard on the radio it is almost definitely happening. Also have a friend who works close to government who has confirmed it’s happening.

@Dustyboots

Will this mean school is closed/ disrupted again to roll this out?

Why do you think schools would be closed for this to go ahead (if it does)?

Programmes like HPV vaccination cause no disruption to schooling, and I imagine there will be a far lower take up so less teens to organise for this.

Good that those want to take up the offer will hopefully be able to.

I don’t see why schools would close. Schools administer vaccinations for whole year groups and manage it well. However I assumed young people would be called to the vaccination centres by appointment.

Why would you think the school would need to close? When we do a vaccination for one year group it takes one day (and our school is massive). But the time out of lessons for any one class is minimal.

@Restinblue

I don’t see why schools would close. Schools administer vaccinations for whole year groups and manage it well. However I assumed young people would be called to the vaccination centres by appointment.

Yup there seems to be a lot of focus of schools as venues (used an argument to not offer vaccination to teens), but posters seem to forget that they won't be the only places offering vaccination to this age group, it's just one efficient way of organising it.

Our school is shut just for lateral flow testing. I presume because it’s very squashed and too much of a logistical nightmare to teach and test on mass.

There’s no spare space in our school at the best of times.

Maybe it’s just our school that’s like this ...

Jabs in schools are a well-oiled machine. Each tutor group has a time to go to the hall. When it's their time, they go to the hall, get jabbed then come back to lessons. It's usually pretty quick, they wouldn't even miss a full lesson.

@Dustyboots

Our school is shut just for lateral flow testing. I presume because it’s very squashed and too much of a logistical nightmare to teach and test on mass.

There’s no spare space in our school at the best of times.

Maybe it’s just our school that’s like this ...

Your child's school is closed because it is being used a testing centre? So no pupils are currently going for in for classes?

When they do the lateral flow test days at the beginning of term it’s closed to the year groups being tested, yes.

So my secondary child has had two remote learning days already so far this year - just because of that. He’s starting GCSES but no remote learning actually happens. It’s just a label for staying at home/ no school today.

Vaccinating is nothing like testing. We vaccinate students every year and will be able to get it done quickly and efficiently.

Testing on the other hand has needed a full day or 2 in some schools as you test the students then have to isolate them from the rest of school whilst waiting for the results. And you only have so many members of staff trained to do it, have only so much space to set up a testing room room so many staff to supervise the students. And then you have to deal with the positive students; it is logistically very complex unless you have a huge number of staff and lots of space.

For vaccination we send them a group at a time and it takes no more than a lesson for everyone to be vaccinated.

Ah - ok that makes sense.

Thank you

I think a lot of secondary schools had staggered starts this year didn't they, partly to help Y7s settle in (and in DD's school the Y8s started earlier because they had remained in the same room all year and so they also hadn't experienced normal secondary school yet ) and partly to do the 2 lfts. Presumably that's why pupils are now expected to do the tests at home.