Keir Starmer calls for teachers to be given vaccine over half term

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, leader Sir Keir Starmer told the Commons that Boris Johnson “should bring forward the vaccination of key workers and use the window of the February half-term to vaccinate all teachers and all school staff”.

And Mr Johnson replied: “Of course, it follows that all teachers in JCVI [Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation] groups 1 to 9 will be vaccinated as a matter of priority.

“And I pay to tribute, by the way, to the huge efforts parents are making across the country struggling to educate their kids, I know how deeply frustrating it is, the extra burden that we have placed on families by closing the schools.

“And no-one has worked harder than my right honourable friend the Education Secretary to keep schools open. We all want to open schools.”

But Labour is calling for keyworkers in critical professions to be added to the first phase of the vaccination programme regardless of their priority group, once the most vulnerable have been reached.

By February 15, the Government has committed to offering vaccines to all those in the first four priority groups: residents in a care home for older adults and their carers; all those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers; all those 75 years of age and over; all those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals.

After this, the current plan - still within the first phase - is to move to to all those 65 years of age and over; all individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality; all those 60 years of age and over; all those 55 years of age and over all those 50 years of age and over.

But Labour’s call for an expanded first-phase would see the JCVI draw up a list of critical workers prioritised for the vaccine alongside over 50s, 60s, and people with underlying health conditions.

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, said: “The NHS rightly deserve congratulations for their impressive and speedy roll out of vaccinations. But now we need to go further and faster.

“Not only will vaccination acceleration save lives it will help us to carefully and responsibly reopen our economy and crucially ensure children are back in school as transmission reduces.”

He said: “Ministers must bring forward plans to vaccinate key workers as soon as possible. Police officers, teachers, fire fighters and transport workers are just some of the key workers who have kept society functioning through this pandemic and are more exposed to the virus. We cannot afford to slow our vaccination efforts now.”

Under the plans, transport workers, those working in supermarkets, police, firefighters, prison staff, teachers and school staff would be boosted up the list.

It comes after the Chief Executive of NHS England Sir Simon Stevens said teachers, police and people with learning disabilities will need to be considered for the next round of Covid-19 vaccinations.

Speaking yesterday, he said: “Our current proposition that once we have offered a vaccination to everyone aged 70 and above, and the clinically extremely vulnerable, then the next group of people would be people in their 60s and 50s, but there will also be a legitimate discussion in my view that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation will have to advise on as to whether or not there are certain other groups who should receive that priority.

“People with learning disabilities and autism, certain key public service workers, teachers, the police, they will have to be factored in that post-February 15 prioritisation decision.”

Sir Simon said reducing the number of hospital beds occupied by Covid-19 patients was not “the only consideration” policymakers would take into account when deciding the vaccination priority list.

“Fundamentally, the most important thing is to get the overall infection rate down, this is not principally about pressure on the NHS, this is principally about reducing the avoidable death rate,” he added.

The Government faced pressure from its own MPs yesterday to reopen schools as soon as possible, as Public Health England found Covid-19 transmission in primary schools was “extremely low”.

Speaking in the Commons, Conservative Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) said: “Does the minister agree with me that vaccinating teachers and staff at all schools would bring great benefits, and particularly so at special schools?”

Schools Minister Nick Gibb replied: “The priority for the first phase is on mortality but in the second phase the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation will be looking at different occupations, and the Department of Education will be pressing the case for the education workforce.”

Public Health England (PHE) concluded that transmission of Covid-19 in primary schools was “extremely low” and outbreaks were rare during the autumn term.

The PHE study found a “very low risk” of infection in students and staff in primary schools, but it said similar studies were needed in secondary schools where the risks of infection are likely to be different.

Dr Shamez Ladhani, a PHE consultant paediatrician and study lead, said: “Schools should be the first setting to reopen when it is safe to do so, and we are carefully monitoring the data.”