Adam Prakash Abdullah
MIRI (Feb 24): Teachers should be given priority for the Covid-19 vaccination as schools will reopen in March and they will be faced with an ‘unpredictable situation’, said Sarawak Teachers’ Union president Adam Prakash Abdullah.
He admitted that there was concern among teachers about returning to school where they now have to play the lead role in ensuring compliance with the government’s standard operating procedures (SOP) such as checking students’ temperature and maintaining social distancing.
“Teachers will be very exposed to their students coming from different places and will be at a very high risk of being exposed to Covid-19,” he said when contacted over calls to prioritise teachers in the national Covid-19 vaccination programme.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had said on Monday that requests to prioritise teachers would be brought to the Covid-19 task force meeting next week.
He said it was a reasonable request and asked the Education Minister to provide a priority list of teachers who have comorbidities and were at high risk of a negative outcome if they contract the virus.
In this respect, Adam urged the Education Ministry to respond urgently to Khairy’s request for the list so that they can receive the vaccine ahead of schools opening in March.
“This is because teachers are our frontliners in education and providing them with the vaccine on a priority list would be a simple gesture of appreciation for their untiring effort of making sure that teaching and learning continues during the Movement Control Order (MCO) since last March,” he said.
He also believed that the vaccination would give teachers the confidence to return to the classroom.
“Parents would also feel comfortable at sending their children to schools knowing very well that the teachers have been vaccinated,” said Adam.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Muhyiddin Yassin became the first person in the country to be vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine today.
The national vaccination plan is being implemented in three phases and is expected to be completed in February next year.
The first phase, which will be carried out until April, is for frontliners, especially in healthcare, police, Rela, Bomba and civil defence sectors; the second phase from April to August is for senior citizens above 60, people with non-communicable diseases and people with disabilities, and the final phase is for individuals aged 18 years and above from May 2021 to February 2022.
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