Teachers, Students Should get Jab

Yeung said teachers who aren't vaccinated need to get tested

Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung has stated teachers who are not vaccinated must undergo Covid-19 testing every two weeks so that students can have full-day learning at school come September. 

He said the government will survey schools this month to check their vaccination status to decide how to proceed when the school year starts. 

Those who currently must get tested every two weeks are those have not yet been vaccinated or cannot get the jab for medical reasons include workers in care homes, restaurants and construction sites.

14 percent of students got one dose or a booking

"We are considering whether we can require all teachers and staff who can't be vaccinated... to be tested regularly to allow more school activities to be done," Yeung said on a radio program today, noting officials were looking into whether to make the arrangement compulsory.

"If around 70 to 80 percent of students in a school have been inoculated, they are prepared for more learning activities. If several teachers cannot be vaccinated for several reasons... are they obliged to undergo regular testing so these activities can proceed?"

He said he believed between 30 to 40 percent of teachers were vaccinated, while the government says 14 percent of students between the ages of 12 and 15 had received at least one dose or booked a vaccination appointment.

Medical experts have said if 70 to 80 percent of the people in school are vaccinated, then full-day face-to-face classes can resume. Those inoculated can also be exempted from wearing masks in school.

However, Fung Wai-wah, president of the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union, did not support the proposal.

Students as young as 12 can now get the jab

"The prerequisites of full-class resumption should not be based on mandatory testing or vaccination," Fung said. "Mandatory testing is not that helpful, as it does not guarantee one is disease-free."

He also said vaccination should be voluntary. "Requiring teachers to undergo mandatory testing if they are not vaccinated is indirectly forcing them to get jabs," Fung said.

While Fung is correct that a test every two weeks is not necessarily helpful in detecting someone with Covid-19, getting vaccinated is something everyone who doesn't have any serious health issues should do.

While vaccinations are voluntary, if people want Hong Kong's economy to improve, then then must get vaccinated, plain and simple. Even if there aren't tourists coming in yet, residents must get the jab in order for life to return to greater normalcy.

But when it comes to students, their parents maybe hesitant about their children getting vaccinated, and some students may be secretly relieved not to get the jab so that they can continue attending half days at school!

As a result, schools may not be going back to regular programming when September rolls around, which means Yeung and his department will have to think of other incentives to get teachers and students vaccinated...

Currently 31.35 percent of Hong Kong residents have had at least one shot, 20.94 percent are fully vaccinated.