Hundreds of teachers in London ‘book Covid vaccine through NHS booking link sent on Whatsapp’

46

View
comments

Hundreds of teachers in London are booking coronavirus vaccinations using an NHS link, it has been suggested, while other areas are rolling out jabs to over-60s.

A staff member at a school in the capital, who has not been named, claimed today he had received a link and passcode to secure an appointment via Whatsapp. 

‘A friend of ours at another school had received an email from their friend,’ said the teacher, who has no underlying health conditions and is not over 70 years old.

‘She quoted the email the person had received apparently from a senior leader at their school. The quote was that Barts Health Authority was vaccinating teachers with their leftover vaccines and then it went on to give a link from the Barts booking system and a password to use.’

Teachers in Labour-voting Hackney, Camden and Barnet received the link, reports the BBC, with messages sent via school management and groups on social media.

The party has repeatedly called for teachers to be bumped up the jabs priority list, arguing it could get children back behind their desks earlier.

But left-wing trade unions look set to dash any plans for a rapid return, saying vaccinations ‘do not protect parents’ and ‘fails completely to recognise the role schools have played in community transmission’.

Boris Johnson has warned classrooms in England will remain empty until March 8 at the earliest, when ministers hope infection rates will have plummeted low enough.

It comes amid reports over-60s are also now receiving their first doses in Greater Manchester, despite over-80s in the area still waiting for their shots.

NHS England figures show 86.5 per cent of over-80s in the area have been vaccinated, alongside 88.1 per cent of 75 to 79-year-olds and 56 per cent of those aged 70 to 74 years old. 

The Prime Minister is aiming to get 13.9million of the most vulnerable – over-70s, care home residents, NHS staff and the vulnerable – jabbed by mid-February.

But moves by health officials to give shots to those outside the top groups will raise fears over a vaccines postcode lottery, with leading south east London already getting first doses to four times more 70 to 74-year-olds than Devon. 

Their figures also suggest there are almost 300,000 over-80s still waiting for their first dose in England, as the drive steams through its ninth week. 

Ministers have so far resisted calls to bump teachers up the vaccination list, saying they will follow the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommendations.

Speaking in an anonymous capacity to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the teacher revealed he had been able to book an appointment through the Barts Health system.

‘I was sceptical that it would accept the appointment right up to the point it was confirmed,’ he said.

‘I thought during the booking process, if it wasn’t something I was entitled to, I thought there would be something that would close it down or would refuse the appointment. 

‘But I went through the booking system and entered my details, my school details, my job details and then received a confirmation of the appointment itself.’

The chair of the Royal College of GPs, Professor Martin Marshall, warned there was ‘certainly a risk’ of this happening during complicated vaccine rollouts.

‘I think the problem that has arisen is one that has arisen for a number of reasons,’ he said.

‘Most likely it was a genuine mistake that a link code an password that was sent out for Barts Health staff inadvertently found its way into the hands of teachers who were confused as to whether they were really in the priority group or not.’

He added: ‘There is an issue of the importance of not wasting the vaccine. So all clinics, including GP clinics, who are currently bring about 75 per cent of all the vaccinations in the country, at the end of the day or at the end of a batch, which can last for only about five days, you often have some vaccinations left over and then you’ll search around to make sure you can give them to somebody as high priority as possible rather than wasting them.’

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for all school staff to be vaccinated in England over the February half-term, when the four most vulnerable groups are set to have received their first doses.

They say there is ‘growing evidence’ the jabs slam the brakes on transmission of the virus, reducing disruption to lessons if teachers test positive and possibly getting children back in the classroom sooner.

But teaching unions look set to defy the move, after they blasted Mr Johnson’s plans to open schools by March 8 as ‘too early’ and claimed they would ultimately lead to a fourth national squeeze.

They called for an even longer closure in a devastating blow for parents claiming there are ‘too many unknowns, such as effectiveness of the vaccine and the pace at which infections are falling’, suggesting the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown would lead to failure.

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said last month: ‘If we come out too early, we will end up in lockdown again. We all want schools to open, but like the Prime Minister we want them to open when it is safe to do so. This has to be done sustainably and safely.

‘We agree with Boris Johnson that this is a balancing act. He has a duty to assess the easing of lockdown according to the progress and effects of vaccination, a reduction in cases and the various other criteria he has set out.

‘But in setting out a potential date of March 8, falling once again into his characteristic and too often misplaced optimism, he is pre-empting a decision that will have to be made in mid-February at the very earliest.’

It was revealed in The Times today that over-60s are being offered Covid-19 vaccinations in Greater Manchester.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman told the paper they would not stand in the way of areas picking up the pace to rollout vaccines to other groups.

‘It’s for individual areas to ensure the rollout of the vaccination programme and there are some areas that have done a higher proportion of the top four groups,’ they said.

‘We want to build on the momentum of the vaccine programme so for those in the cohorts just below the top four groups, we will ensure that we roll the vaccination programme out to them as soon as possible.’

An MP in the area, who has not been named, said over-65s in their constituency and other parts of the North West had already been vaccinated after receiving letters last week. 

Barts Health has been contacted for comment.