TEACHERS could be the next group of people to be given vaccines, MPs were told last night, as kids’ education was thrown into chaos after exams were cancelled.
The Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is set to lay out a plan today for teachers to dish out A-level and GCSE grades after schools were closed and tests scrapped as the coronavirus crisis spun out of control.
England’s deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries suggested in a briefing with MPs that teachers and other frontline key workers would be next on the list to get a vaccination, according to the HuffPost.
Boris Johnson has vowed to give the jab to 13 million people in the four most vulnerable groups before mid-February, in order to relax lockdown restrictions.
According to an MP at the briefing with Dr Harries, she said: ““When the first four groups are completed, then frontline key workers would be vaccinated and this would include consideration of teachers.”
It would mean teachers and school staff would be bumped up the list to be included on the next five priority groups, alongside the over 50s and those with underlying health conditions.
A handful of Tory and Labour MPs, including Robert Halfon, Martin Vickers and Simon Hoare, grilled Dr Harries over the decision not to include teachers in the Phase 1 group initially.
She suggested they could be “considered” as frontline workers, like NHS staff, who are in the top four groups to be given the jab.
The decision on who is top of the list to get a vaccine is ultimately made by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
And the Department of Health has stressed the priority list for Phase 1 vaccinations has already been published.
Officials denied suggestions teachers would be included in the first nine groups of people to be given the jab – but said they would be considered for the next phase.
A spokesperson labelled reports teachers could be bumped up the list as “misleading”.
They said: “DCMO made clear teachers with specific underlying health conditions would receive the vaccine as part of the relevant JCVI prioritisation group.
“The JCVI will consider all available evidence for phase 2 recommendations of the vaccination programme.”
Last month, JCVI chair Wei Shin Lim said key workers outside of the NHS and social care would have to wait until all nine of those groups have been vaccinated.
