Kashmir doctors’ body urges authorities to prioritize COVID-19 vaccination for teachers

With schools in Kashmir reporting positive cases of Covid-19 infection among staffers, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Sunday urged authorities to prioritize vaccination for teachers and school staff in the valley.

DAK President and influenza expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement said the vaccination would provide safe environment for students in the schools as it would ensure the health and safety of both teachers and students. 

   

The vaccination would also keep schools open and prevent disruption in learning, he added. 

As per Dr Nisar, vaccination would make educators feel safe heading back to schools and parents would also be confident sending their children to schools. 

“Not only will vaccine protect teachers and students, but it will protect their families as well,” he said adding that unvaccinated teachers are at increased risk of getting the virus. 

The DAK president said that unimmunized teachers would “play an important role in the spread of Covid-19 infection within the schools”.

“And schools could become breeding grounds for virus transmission and we could end up in another deadly wave of Covid-19 infection, ” he warned. 

While most children who get Covid-19 develop mild illness, Dr Nisar said several hundreds have died of respiratory failure or an inflammatory syndrome. 

He also cited a recent German study suggesting that children may be as infectious as adults and can spread the virus as easily as adults.

“Children can get infected at school and spread the virus to parents and grandparents at home who are more likely to develop severe disease,” said Dr Nisar.

He said schools are very dynamic places. “This is not just about students coming and going, it is about students interacting with bus drivers, with oChildren tend not to follow social distancing and are not particular about personal hygiene,” he said.

As per Dr Nisar, many schools in the valley lack infrastructure to maintain physical distancing.

“And they do not follow rigorous cleaning protocols that could help prevent and control the spread of the virus,” he added.

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