Question reference: S5W-34206
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
- Date lodged: 22 December 2020
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Current status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 23 February 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the statistics published by Public Health Scotland on 16 December 2020, which suggests that teachers are more likely to contract COVID-19 than the general working-age population, what consideration has been given to the prioritisation of school staff in the vaccine roll-out.
Answer
The Public Health Scotland Report of record linkage study of COVID-19 among Teachers, Healthcare workers and other working-age adults (publichealthscotland.scot) does record the increased risk of teaching staff for catching COVID-19, but also confirms that, “Across the whole period teachers were at lower risk of both hospitalisation with COVID-19, and of severe COVID-19 (defined where an individual was admitted to intensive care or died within 28 days of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2), than the general population. In the period since schools re-opened in August 2020 through to November 2020, there was no evidence of a difference in the risk of hospitalisation between teachers and the general population and the risk of severe COVID-19 was lower amongst teachers.”
Prioritisation by sector is not being considered for the following reasons:
- Criticality of service is not an indication for priority vaccination because clinical risk is the overriding concern. This is influenced most greatly by age, not occupation.
- Currently there is no sectoral prioritisation of any workers other than frontline health and social care workers. This is because we don’t know if the vaccine prevents spread, but it does reduce the harm to those most at risk should they catch the virus.
- Individual members of the teaching profession will be called forward for vaccination according to their position on the priority list, if they are eligible within the JCVI Cohorts regarding their age and/or underlying medical conditions (e.g. All individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality).
However, the JCVI list now includes staff directly involved in the direct care of children and young people with the most complex additional healthcare needs who are clinically vulnerable to severe effects of COVID. They may be at higher risk of exposure due to their close contact with those providing health and social care support, particularly those with severe neuro-disabilities. They will be eligible under category 2 of the JCVI list. This includes staff working in special schools and units, and in some cases in mainstream schools. Staff supporting these children will undertake roles which will align to the multi-agency educational and care plans for these children who are the most clinically vulnerable.