Keep teachers among priority groups for COVID-19 jabs for seamless classroom learning: WHO

Talking about the measures that must be taken in order to ensure that schools can stay open throughout the pandemic, UN agencies wrote in a statement that offering teachers and other school staff the Covid-19 vaccine as part of target population groups must be there in national vaccination plans.

In order to reopen schools and colleges in Europe and Central Asia, teachers and school staff should be among the groups prioritised for COVID-19 vaccinations so, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF said on August 30. Talking about the measures that must be taken in order to ensure that schools can stay open throughout the pandemic, UN agencies wrote in a statement that offering teachers and other school staff the Covid-19 vaccine as part of target population groups must be there in national vaccination plans. A group of WHO experts have already made recommendations in November 2020 before the vaccination roll-out. The statement said that it should be done while ensuring vaccination of vulnerable populations.

COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the academic activities all around the world, talking about the importance of uninterrupted classroom learning, the agencies said that as schools reopen after the summer holidays, vaccinating teachers and other staff members is important in the list to curb the spread of the virus. According to TOI, the director of the WHO European region, Hans Kluge, said in the statement, "This is of paramount importance for children's education, mental health and social skills, for schools to help equip our children to be happy and productive members of society.” "The pandemic has caused the most catastrophic disruption to education in history," he added.

The agencies also urged countries to vaccinate children over the age of 12 with medical conditions that may cause a greater risk of severe COVID-19 disease. It also talked about maintaining and improving the environment of schools during pandemics with small-size classes, seating arrangements following social distancing norms, COVID-19 testing at regular intervals, better ventilation. 

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