Education minister: Vaccinating teachers to start mid-February
Minister of Education and Research Liina Kersna (Reform) said on Thursday the state will start preparing to vaccinate teachers and education sector workers against coronavirus. Vaccinations are planned to start in mid-February.
The plan will be created by the Vaccination Steering Group at the Ministry of Social Affairs, the minister wrote in a Facebook post.
Kersna explained that vaccinating teachers ensures a more stable learning environment for children and helps to avoid having to suddenly move to distance learning.
"As a first step, we would like to vaccinate general education teachers, kindergarten teachers and vocational school teachers," Kersna told ERR. The vaccination plan also includes hobby education teachers.
Vaccination will be voluntary and not mandatory, adding she has been told by education representatives that the will to get vaccinated is high among education workers.
On Thursday morning, 53 education institutions submitted a public appeal in support of quick vaccination for teachers and people who work in the education sector.
There are 26,000 teachers in Estonia of who, 16,000 work in general education, 8,000 in nurseries and 2,000 in training institutions. Half of teachers in Estonia are over 50 years old.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
Editor: Roberta Vaino
