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GroundUp writes that schools reopened on Monday with over 430,000 teachers vaccinated against Covid-19, which was good news. But many tens of thousands of teachers remain unvaccinated.
GroundUp says that both the education department and unions should be doing more to get hesitant teachers vaccinated. Unfortunately, prevarication and mixed messages are not helping. Teachers who choose not to get vaccinated put themselves at risk of dying or becoming extremely ill from Covid. They also put their vaccinated colleagues at risk, because although the vaccines are very good, they are not 100% effective. Unvaccinated teachers risk infecting learners who could then infect their family and friends. The argument that everyone in a workplace has the right to choose whether or not to get a Covid-19 vaccine would have some merit if people didn’t breathe in each other’s germs. But they do. On Friday, the education department issued a circular on what to do about teachers who refused to get vaccinated. To describe it as confusing is an understatement. On Saturday, Naptosa published its views on the department’s circular, but unfortunately the teaching union’s statement was also confused. To its credit, Sadtu, the largest teaching union, has stated: “A responsible education worker takes the jab. Let’s vaccinate to save lives.” This is the kind of unequivocal messaging that is needed. Unvaccinated teachers present a serious risk to themselves and their colleagues. They need to be urged to get vaccinated, not indulged, GroundUp says
- Read this article in full at GroundUp
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