Teachers’ federation ‘excited’ for kids in school to get vaccinated

The approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for kids aged five to 11 will be a big relief for teachers in the province.

Patrick Maze, the president of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation, said the announcement Friday morning that children in that age group could now be vaccinated was a welcome one.

“It’s a very exciting time and one that will be welcomed in our schools,” he said.

Given that social distancing isn’t possible in schools, largely due to a lack of space and many students, Maze said it will be important for students to get vaccinated.

For teachers who were pushing last year for priority access to vaccines because of their vulnerability to illness while dealing with many kids in close spaces, the news is “one more piece of the puzzle,” Maze said.

While most school divisions already have some form of vaccine mandate for adults, the vaccine for children is “another important step,” according to Maze.

He said it could also lead to mandating vaccinations for children to attend school.

“Definitely, kids have the right to an education but … we’ve proven that we can offer education online. It’s not preferable but at the same point, that is an option for students who refuse to get vaccinated,” Maze explained.

If that happens, students who don’t get vaccinated or whose parents won’t allow them to get their shots would move to online schooling, while students who are vaccinated would attend school in person.

“We would still be offering and adhering to their right to an education, it would just look a little bit different because of their choice to not get vaccinated,” Maze said.

From a safety perspective, Maze said the more people who get vaccinated, the lower the risk of COVID-19 is for everyone at schools. That consideration is especially important when taking into account immunocompromised children and adults in school buildings.

“Hopefully parents will run out and make sure that they get their children vaccinated,” he said. “It’s really critical as a society and community that we all do our part in order to get vaccinated and that includes young children now.”

According to data released by the Government of Saskatchewan on Thursday, more than 13,000 of Saskatchewan’s 79,937 COVID cases to date were kids under the age of 11.