The United Kingdom's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is not in favor of prioritizing the vaccination of key frontline workers, including teachers, against COVID-19 in the second phase of the country's mass immunization program, Anthony Harnden, the JCVI's vice-chair, said Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th February, 2021) The United Kingdom's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is not in favor of prioritizing the vaccination of key frontline workers, including teachers, against COVID-19 in the second phase of the country's mass immunization program, Anthony Harnden, the JCVI's vice-chair, said Wednesday.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already pledged that every adult in the UK should be offered their first vaccine dose by the end of July. However, the government has faced pressure to commit to prioritizing frontline workers as the country looks to begin easing social distancing restrictions from March 8, when all schools in England are set to reopen.
"So in terms of the disease, there isn't a strong scientific argument to immunize teachers," Harnden told a parliamentary committee.
According to Department of Health and Social Care data, 18 million people in the United Kingdom have received their first vaccine dose, and Harnden said that the success of the mass vaccination campaign has been due to its simplicity.
"I would say that one of the key reasons that this program has been so successful is that it has been simple, it's been deliverable, and it has rolled out very quickly, you can understand it. And if you start picking out certain groups it will make it more complicated, and the risk of doing that is slowing the program down," he said.
The UK launched its mass vaccination program in late December, and the JCVI published its recommendation to vaccinate nine priority groups, beginning with care home residents and finishing with all adults aged 50 years and over, during the first phase of the campaign.
