TEACHERS should be prioritised for the Covid vaccine to keep England’s schools open, MPs and heads have demanded.
The call comes amid fury that more than 1 million primary school kids in the worst Covid hotspots will not return to the classroom as planned.
Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates
Experts begged ministers to use the many millions of doses of the Oxford vaccine to inoculate England’s army of school staff.
They said this is the only way to get kids back to class quickly and prevent a massive education postcode lottery opening up.
Steve Chalke, who runs the Oasis Academy Trust which has more than 50 schools, said “only the vaccine changes the game”.
He said: “Not only are school staff key workers. More than that, they are now in the eye of the Covid storm.
“So we must offer them the protection they need to do the job.
“That means ensuring they are at the front of the queue – on a par with NHS and care workers – to be offered the vaccine.”
It came as:
Robert Halfon, Tory MP and boss of the education select committee, also weighed in.
He told BBC Breakfast: “Now that we’ve got the Oxford vaccine, I want to see that teachers and support staff are made an absolute priority for vaccinations.
“Because if we can make sure that they’re vaccinated and they’re safe, it’s less likely that schools will have to close.”
Most primary schools: Open on January 4 as planned
Key exam years: return on January 11 as planned
Secondary schools: Delayed until January 18 (due to go back on January 11)
Covid hotspots: all primary and schools stay shut except for key workers and vulnerable kids. No timetable, but likely to be beyond January 18
Currently vaccines are dished out according to who is most likely to die from coronavirus.
The clinically vulnerable, over 50s and NHS and social care staff are in line to get the jab in the first vaccination wave.
The second prioritisation list which spells out who gets the jab after them has not been released yet.
Mr Halfon also said primaries in Covid hotspots which have been ordered to close for an extra two weeks must not be allowed to stay shut longer.
He warned: “This two weeks has to mean two weeks – schools can’t just be a revolving door that never stands still, open one day, shut the next, because it’s very damaging to the life chances of these pupils.”
The government has sparked fury after announcing a shock delay to the return of kids to class after the Christmas holidays.
Primaries across 50 Covid hotspots across London and the South East will stay shut for most kids for at least another two weeks – and could stay closed longer if their infection rates do not come down.
They will open for the kids of key workers, and vulnerable children.
A staggering 1.05 million primary kids will have to be home-schooled because of the shutdown.
London
Essex
Kent
East Sussex
Buckinghamshire
Hertfordshire
While secondary schools in these areas could also stay shut. They will hear their fate on January 13.
Across the rest of the country the return of secondary schools has been delayed a week.
Grilled on the screeching government U-turn, Mr Williamson insisted he was left with no choice after the new mutant strain of Covid swept through swathes of England at lightning speed.
And he hinted that teachers will be put at the front of the queue for the jab – but only after the most vulnerable are inoculated.
He said: “When we look at future waves of a rollout of a vaccine, as you can imagine, as Education Secretary I’ll be wanting to see teachers and all those support staff being up there on that list getting that vaccine.”
Asked directly whether teachers should be prioritised like healthcare workers, the Education Secretary added: “In future waves, obviously, this is a decision that will be made across government.
“It would be great to see more teachers right up there getting the vaccine, but it’s got to be made on clinical judgment as to how best we deal with and beat this virus.”
