Groups urge gov’t to move teachers up in priority list for COVID-19 vaccination
MANILA, Philippines — At least 33 education, business and medical groups are urging the government to move teachers up the priority list for COVID-19 vaccinations, which they say will allow teachers to teach in person and schools to finally reopen.
The groups, which include the Philippine Pediatric Society, said in a position paper that teachers must be moved two spots up the priority list from B1 to A4 so they can be vaccinated alongside non-medical frontline personnel in essential sectors.
Currently, teachers and social workers would have to wait until after frontline health workers, senior citizens, people with comorbidities, frontline personnel in essential sectors and the indigent population are vaccinated before they get their shots.
“The prioritization of teacher and education personnel is the common standard internationally,” the groups said, pointing out that the United States, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Indonesia, Singapore and Cambodia have prioritized teachers in their COVID-19 vaccination drive.
They added that vaccinating teachers would boost confidence in reopening schools, which have remained shuttered for over a year in the Philippines.
This, they said, has resulted in the regression of learning in the country, with around 2.7 million elementary students not enrolling this current school year and students only exhibiting around six years of proficiency despite the 12-year basic education system.
The Department of Education previously pushed for the resumption of face-to-face classes in areas at low risk for COVID-19 transmission, but this was rejected by President Rodrigo Duterte as the country faced new and more infectious variants of the coronavirus. — Xave Gregorio
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