Vaccinate the teachers

-ALANaV Once again I agree with everything you say. The voice of common sense and reason. Thank you.

I think there are still a lot of people who don't understand how the vaccine works. This is not like e.g the polio jab. It does not stop us getting the infection or passing it on, it just makes the symptoms less severe. Giving it to healthy , fit young people including teachers, who in all probability wouldn't have it too badly (though I know that is not always the case) would not make that big a difference to hospital cases or the death rate. And they could still pass it on to their pupils who will take it home and pass it on to their families including, possibly, elderly grandparents.
Everytime we watch the news it is a different group of people saying they have been abandoned and forgotten and should be a special case. If everybody is a special case, who will come first and who will come last?

Sheesh,Ellianne, you make it sound a breeze.
Well sheesh to you too! I would at least be giving it my best shot, getting the IT technicians in on it, getting the TAs to follow with the camera etc. It doesn't have to be perfect and when teaching younger pupils who cares about spontaneity and hilarity? But then I was always used to having my dog roam the school anyway!
A can do attitude is worth a try.

Leolady73

I agree and think the categories are ridiculous as we oldies can easily isolate but teachers, carers, shopkeepers, lorry drivers etc etc are in contact with people all day and we need them!!

Unfortunately the oldies are not isolating that's why the hospitals are full of them and sadly many more have died
Vacinating the young will not solve the problems of an overstretched NHS and the massive death count

I agree and think the categories are ridiculous as we oldies can easily isolate but teachers, carers, shopkeepers, lorry drivers etc etc are in contact with people all day and we need them!!

When you have many workers who rely on their wages/ salaries, it's vital that these people are vaccinated for the simple reason that those who've tested positive are continuing to work in order to be able to live and pay their bills.
It's counterproductive for them not to be protected in some way by leaving them to the very end while there are the retired like myself and many others whose needs aren't as vital, financially. It doesn't make sense.

Sheesh, Ellianne, you make it sound a breeze. But that only works if you’re a chalk-and-talk teacher with dutiful compliant kids who sit and work in silence unless invited to speak.

I normally do whole class face to face teaching, and during the first lockdown and now, it’s all remote. During the autumn term, I did hybrid teaching of classes where some were at home and some in school, and I’m fortunate enough to have all the tech in my classroom, and have been properly trained to deliver remote teaching. It is fiendishly difficult to achieve effective hybrid teaching given that some of those working from home have wifi problems, students can’t do supervised group work, and you can’t peer over a student’s shoulder to see what they are writing. Children in class don’t speak loud enough for those at home to hear, and parents and pets keep interrupting children who are working from home, which causes hilarity for those working in the classroom. It’s the most horrid experience and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

For those asking how death rates for teachers compare with others...?
neu.org.uk/press-releases/impact-covid-school-workforce

I agree with Casdon, until a large percentage of the population are vaccinated, it would not be safe to let children return to school. In my GP's county area vaccinations are far behind for some reason whilst the people who live in the same town as me who have a GP in the bordering county are now having vaccinations if they are over 70.
I would like to see the Police, Fire Service and Shop Workers vaccinated first. They have more than done their duty to the public. I know it is hard for parents with children but they aren't living lives where they are being bombed on a regular basis or literally starving to death like other children in other countries.

maddyone You say it wouldn't hurt "oldies" to isolate for a bit longer.

I live on my own and have been in solitary confinement for 10 months. Do you live alone? Or do you have a partner as a companion?

That's the problem. I'm glad the priority list was decided on clinical need and I hope it continues.

The police, teachers and all health care workers, frontline staff should be vaccinated next.

My partner is a type 1 diabetic, but not on a priority list and not eligible until phase four.

There are so many people to get through, and hopefully everyone will be vaccinated in the not too distant future.

Yes in principle vaccinate teachers. But why not everyone in public facing roles - police officers, firefighters, healthcare staff, delivery drivers, retail workers. How do you discriminate who to vaccinate first?

I'm another one who thinks the police should have priority over teachers. I know someone who, together with two colleagues, has had to self-isolate because they had to break up an attack and he escorted a victim to a place of safety (side by side in the back of a police car) who had Covid. That left his team seriously short-staffed for 10 days. How on earth can the lockdown be enforced if half the police are sick or isolating?

431 people over 85 caught COVID in Scotland last week. I dare say a lot of them have never been outside their own front doors and thought they were doing a great job of not mixing with others. Many may have been in hospital or care homes. With current death rates, about 170 of them won't recover.

3,202 people between 25 and 44 caught COVID in Scotland last week, nearly 8 times a many. About 64 won't recover - half as many

So by vaccinating younger people first, you're equating a young person's life to about 16 old people. How do those odds sound?

School staff are NOT more likely to die of Covid-19 than the general population, ONS survey reveals after 139 were killed by the disease in all of 2020

Nannapat1

I agree with PECS. Schools are not staffed solely by young healthy adults! My DGD's TA is 70, albeit a very fit 70 year old. Vaccination of staff would seem to be the way forward but one might say the same of any workers who constantly have face to face contact with the public.

In that case, the TA will be in a priority group and should expect to be vaccinated very soon.

BTW I'm 65 and although I have serious underlying health issues, I'm hopeful of living for another couple of decades. I'm not on my last legs yet and I'm quite offended that anybody should decide that a person with a more "essential" job is more important.

I agree with PECS. Schools are not staffed solely by young healthy adults! My DGD's TA is 70, albeit a very fit 70 year old. Vaccination of staff would seem to be the way forward but one might say the same of any workers who constantly have face to face contact with the public.

maddyone

No, I don’t want older people left at home to die growstuff. I’m suggesting they carry on shielding, as they have been doing for months. I’ve even seen a post of yours on another thread where you actually suggested the same thing. You said you’d already barely been out since last March and it wouldn’t hurt you to continue for a couple more months.

The people who would have to carry on shielding are people like me. How long do you think I should carry on living like I am?

No, it won't hurt me to stay at home for a bit longer (I'm not due for my vaccine until March/April anyway), but you're talking about many months. Do you have any idea how many younger key workers, including teachers, there are?

What you're also doing is getting into the realms of deciding whose life is more important than somebody else's. The current priorities were decided for clinical reasons and I hope the government doesn't give into lobbying from various interest groups.

Even for the ones who get the vaccine this week, they will be shielding for a couple more months by the time they also get the 2nd one.

maddyone
As Growstuff says : "^It would be incredibly expensive to save a handful of young keyworker lives. Moreover, it wouldn't be efficient in taking pressure off the NHS, unless you just want to leave older and more vulnerable people at home to die. That's not how public health works.^

As someone pointed out up thread , a lot of people who are classed as key workers are working from home . We were told by the gov that being in a room for long stretches of time with an infected person was the most common way to catch the virus. Therefore teachers must be particularly vulnerable , especially as they are teaching the children of key workers who are actually on the front line.Having said this I agree that police officers should definitely be prioritised.

I feel so sad to read "oldies can just shield for another couple of months". Is that what folk think my quality of life is worth? The government plan to vaccinate first those that are most likely to die if they catch Covid is absolutely sensible. The graphs showing deaths by age group tell it all. I'm too appalled by this thread to write more.

You make it sound so easy. I know I’d have struggled.
Me too initially, but pretty simple to deliver the lesson as usual, just move the furniture to capture those in the classroom by a camera positioned on a tripod. No need to be a Spielberg!

If emergency service personnel are not considered to be high up the risk list I cannot see what makes teachers more at risk. Emergency personnel are dealing with a lot of adults, some partying, drunk violent, may have to enter premises of goodness knows what and they are not prioritised. That said, I would love to see the schools back for the children's sake.