If it would help I would delay my vaccination to get children into school.

Definitely agree that teachers should be high up the list to be vaccinated. It makes perfect sense. Teachers would be confident to go into work and children wouldn't have to suffer with all this disruption.

I understand why they are doing the elderly first and apparently the amount of over 80s dying has dropped. Possibly thanks to the vaccine.

Well, although you are healthy at the moment, if you contracted the virus you are more likely to need a place in hospital than someone younger. The main thing just now is to try and stop the hospitals being overwhelmed and therefore unable to give proper attention to people with non covid illnesses or accidents. Education is important yes, but not as important as life itself. So I would say let the schools close and protect the staff that way, and you have your vaccine and then you will be one less person to worry about. (Besides, I would miss your posts on Gransnet if you became really poorly)

I agree 100 per cent, I want shop workers, bus drivers and all front line workers to have it as well as older children and students. When you don’t have to work at least we can stay in without it affecting our income, it’s not too much to stop in although I fear for my sanity sometimes, I’ve had the good times these people haven’t.

I would willingly postpone my vaccination. I think all people who have to go out to work and meet the public, between say 50 and 60 plus, deserve the vaccine, teachers and particularly shop workers, who have faced the public every day, without protective clothing, and cheerfully too.

Education is as important as life itself; these children cannot make up the lost time, which will be almost a year. People talk glibly of extending the school day, working through the holidays; well, good luck with getting that past the Unions, and I speak as an ex union official.

I want mine as soon as !!!

Yes, definitely, I've been saying this for weeks, and I would stay locked in my house for 6 months to make it happen. (I am early 60s, fit, mobile, love socialising, going out, but none of that matters).

“ Education is as important as life itself; these children cannot make up the lost time”
Do you know I think they could. It’s not ideal but possible.

Apparently teachers in Scotland have been added to the priority list.

I agree with Ilovecheese it has been thought through, although it may not seem like it. The older you are the more likely you will end up in hospital putting strain on the NHS. The younger you are statistically if you catch it, you will not end up in hospital. Of course some younger people will, but that is the reason behind the roll out

My son in law sent me an article by a woman who went to Australia as a 13 year old after having no schooling from the age of 8 because she was living in Bosnia during the war. She arrived speaking no English and at 33 she has a university degree and a good career. It can be done.

Deedaa

My son in law sent me an article by a woman who went to Australia as a 13 year old after having no schooling from the age of 8 because she was living in Bosnia during the war. She arrived speaking no English and at 33 she has a university degree and a good career. It can be done.

?? Should this be somewhere else

I would delay my vaccination or happily offer my slot to my daughter who is a maths teacher in a large city comprehensive. That teachers, and other front line workers -not just in the NHS -are exposed on a daily basis is terrifying. Her eldest, my 10 year-old grandson tested positive before Christmas as did 9 others in his class but miraculously the rest of the family were negative , probably thanks to very stringent self isolation at home and draconian hygiene measures, so how D has “escaped” up to now is a relief but for how long.....?

ElaineI

Apparently teachers in Scotland have been added to the priority list.

????Scotland!

easybee - really? (Education is as important as life itself). No, it isn't. How can it be? There's no point in being well educated if you die. Nothing is more important than saving lives!

trisher, being 'healthy' just doesn't help much when being older makes you much more likely to need a hospital bed. Why do people feel that they're naturally immune in some way?

Yes I would give up my place in the queue
When I was teaching infants, our joiners from Poland age 7 had caught up ( non English speaking to start with) by the end of one academic year. The majority of young children ( not vulnerable, disadvantaged, uncared for) will catch up.

I think overthehill that Deedaa was just pointing out that missing out on schooling doesn't always have to hold you back.

I wouldn't be surprised if many of us missed out a fair bit of schooling when, measles, chicken pox and whooping cough were rife. I know I missed out a whole term catching one after the other in the 50s

No, I don't think teachers and other school staff should be moved above others in the current priority list.

That's not because I don't think teachers and education aren't important - far from it!

IMO the government has made the right decision to close schools until half term, which will keep teachers safer than any vaccine and will stop pupils from being vectors.

My reasons for not supporting the idea of teachers' and pupils' not being moved up the priority list are as follows:

1 The vaccines aren't licensed for under 16s. One of the vaccines isn't licensed for under 18s, but I can't remember which one.

2 The JVCI decided on a priority list based on the idea of saving lives. Age is by far the biggest risk factor and the priority list has stayed true to the general principle. Changing that to accommodate certain groups gets us into the realms of deciding which people do jobs which are more important than others and that's always going to be subjective and would be a political rather than a clinical decision.

3 The real issue with schools is that the pupils act as vectors. No vaccine would stop that because it's not known whether it stops transmission.

4 IMO its' far better to use vaccines, which are a scarce resource, to protect the people who are at highest risk of being affected. If others are sensible and take reasonable precautions, there should be less risk of "killing granny", which worries many younger people. If granny does get infected, hopefully he/she wouldn't be seriously ill.

The government has said that teachers and others will be considered as the next in line once the current priority groups have been vaccinated. I'd just like them to get on with it as quickly as possible without any distractions, so that we can then move on to the next stage.

Meanwhile, I think that schools should remain closed for the majority of pupils, while the government does its best to provide the finances for effective online learning and support for those who find it difficult to engage. That includes furlough schemes for parents who can't work from home.

PS. I don't agree with Johnson that schools are "safe". They can never be safe, but I guess he had to say that, in order to avoid losing face.

PPS. Vaccine or not, the important thing is that people still distance themselves from others as far as possible, wear masks, avoid touching surfaces which others might have touched and wash hands.

Juliet27

I think overthehill that Deedaa was just pointing out that missing out on schooling doesn't always have to hold you back.

I wouldn't be surprised if many of us missed out a fair bit of schooling when, measles, chicken pox and whooping cough were rife. I know I missed out a whole term catching one after the other in the 50s

I agree. Learning isn't linear and there's no rational reason why learners beyond the very early years should be able to do/understand anything by a given age. A lot could be learned from home schoolers.

I totally agree trisher I would stay in a year if it meant my grandkids could have a normal life
It is being done the wrong way round we have had our lives good bad or whatever The front line workers including teachers should be vaccinated first
Old people are not contributing any more we should be kept in (it kills me to say this but we should) while the young workers are given what’s needed
Young children 4,5,6 will regain their learning of course they will, teenagers won’t... a year out of learning for a 14,15 16 year old is crucial, sitting on a computer in your bedroom will lead to so many many health problems
I feel strongly that teachers and all school workers need vaccinating front of the queue
I wouldn’t even expect a vaccine for a 90/ 100 year old if there are shortages

The main aim of the priority of vaccination list is to avoid the NHS being overwhelmed and to avoid unnecessary deaths
Now if we vaccinated the young first this wouldn't happen they in the main do not get seriously ill or need hospitals
Yes older people can isolate but most need to come in contact with someone carers ect
I would gladly give my vaccine to my 33 year old diabetic daughter but fortunately she is above me in the list

Vaccination does not give you immunity.
It only means that you probably won’t die from it if you catch it.
It also doesn’t stop you passing it on.

The new Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna seem to be remarkably good at preventing serious illness. But it’s unclear how well they will curb the spread of the coronavirus.

That’s because the Pfizer and Moderna trials tracked only how many vaccinated people became sick with Covid-19. That leaves open the possibility that some vaccinated people get infected without developing symptoms, and could then silently transmit the virus — especially if they come in close contact with others or stop wearing masks.

If vaccinated people are silent spreaders of the virus, they may keep it circulating in their communities, putting unvaccinated people at risk.

“A lot of people are thinking that once they get vaccinated, they’re not going to have to wear masks anymore,” said Michal Tal, an immunologist at Stanford University. “It’s really going to be critical for them to know if they have to keep wearing masks, because they could still be contagious.”

oh dear, I read the heading as "vacation" and I thought
what`s a vacation!

and BlueBelle, I just do not agree with what you say

who is to decide how long anyone is to live?

how can you possibly think that "old" people make no contribution...

sorry I don`t mean to be controversial or anything.. but...

who decides what is "old"? who decides how long anyone is to live? who decides what is a valid contribution to the community?
unfortunately life is not that simple.. if only!

Since the older you are, the more likely the risk of hospitalisation and/or death, then the lists should be stuck to.
I realise that trisher isn’t advocating her selflessness for everybody and that it’s her ethical choice, but logic dictates that the immunisation stays as it is.