“I am in contact with children potentially carrying Covid-19 all day long.
They are under six years old, so do not wear a mask.
We're in the same room for seven hours.
Every evening, I go home fearing I have caught the coronavirus… And I will not do a PCR test every morning!
"Coralie, a school teacher in Seine-Saint-Denis, still hopes to be vaccinated" very quickly ".
Alas: at 36, and without any comorbidity, he will have to wait a few months.
The priority for teachers, desired from the start of the vaccination campaign by Jean-Michel Blanquer, has so far been overlooked.
On January 4, he had deemed "desirable" the doses "by March at the latest" for education personnel.
“On this subject, I am able to understand that we have to start with the elderly, the hospital staff.
But just after, come the staff of my ministry, who are in contact with children and adolescents, ”he explained at the beginning of the year.
The weeks have passed, the delivery of vaccines has experienced some complications, the month of March has arrived and… no vaccination phase dedicated to teachers has been set up.
"With 900,000 teachers in France and 31 days in the month, it would take… 30,000 teachers vaccinated every day in March," grumbled a secondary school teacher last week.
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At the Ministry of National Education, it is explained that "the vaccine strategy does not depend on us, but on interministerial discussions, according to the evolution of the situation and the stock of vaccines available".
Thus, last week, Olivier Véran, the Minister of Health, confirmed that the only priority professions would be caregivers and firefighters.
For the rest, the over 50s with co-morbidities and those over 65 are at the top of the pile.
The minister's words were "a line of work"
But why did Jean-Michel Blanquer promise at the start of the year that teachers would be too?
“In January, the strategy was not yet completely decided and the minister proposed a line of work.
Today, the vaccine strategy has been clarified and will therefore be according to age and vulnerability, ”explains those around him.
However, if there is an influx of vaccine in April, the subject could return to the table.
The collaborators of Jean-Michel Blanquer also recall that the ComCor study by the Institut Pasteur, dated mid-December, indicated that teachers were not classified in the professions most at risk, considering the barrier gestures in place in schools.
Pascal Crépey, epidemiologist researcher at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé publique in Rennes, explained to our colleagues from “La Dépêche” that two factors justify the “prioritization” in terms of vaccines: “The risk of developing serious forms of Covid -19 and the risk of exposure ”.
Thus, it is this second element which justifies the inclusion of nursing staff and firefighters at the top of the priority list for vaccination.
However, for Pascal Crépey, teachers "are not in direct contact with affected people", and thus, "the profession cannot be ranked as a priority just after caregivers and firefighters".
"Incomprehensible that we do not point to teachers as an exposed profession!"
"
The pill is struggling to get through to teachers.
"Yes, we hoped to be a priority, as our minister had committed, without him keeping this commitment", tackle Guislaine David, national delegate of Snuipp-FSU, the main union among school teachers.
This is all the more true among nursery school staff, and agents in contact with younger students who are not required to wear a mask, including ATSEMs.
"There is a real risk, studies now show that with the variant, children contaminate each other and infect adults", continues the union representative.
Coralie, the teacher at 93, adds: "At 28 in a class, when sometimes ventilation is not possible, and with the stirring especially at canteen time ... it is incomprehensible that we do not point teachers as an exposed profession!
"For Guislaine David, it is also about" continuity of public service ", because by immediately vaccinating teachers, we prevent them from being infected and sometimes not replaced.
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Finally, at a time when the numbers of the epidemic are soaring, that the question of the closure of schools inevitably arises as a lever to stop the circulation of the virus, the delegate of Snuipp-FSU believes that "to keep them open, it is OK. by vaccinating teachers ”.
