Vaccinate school staff if you want to get pupils back into classrooms, Boris urged

Calls have come from education unions as well as Robert Halfon MP, chair of the Education Select Committee.

However, aside from frontline NHS and social care workers, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has prioritised vaccination by age and high-risk health conditions.

The JCVI states that any other “occupational prioritisation”, which would include for school staff, could form part of a second phase of vaccination later this year.

It comes as a petition to prioritise teachers, school and childcare staff for the vaccine has amassed well over 300,000 signatures, meaning it will most likely be debated in Parliament.

The petition states: “Advice from the JCVI on the priority groups for a Covid-19 vaccine does not include school/childcare workers. This petition calls for these workers, who cannot distance or use PPE, to be kept safe at work by being put on the vaccine priority list.”