Dear Editor,

NOW is the time for ‘lovers of children’ to prove that concerns for the young ones are not just a talking matter; it is about acting on their behalf. So, this insensitive and immature move from the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) must be condemned, for stating that the body “… will neither advise against nor enforce the inoculation of teachers…” This is not about whether or not the Guyana President has the right to call on teachers to get vaccinated, versus free choice in the taking of the vaccine; it is about moral rectitude and ethics. The overriding issue at hand is the well-being of the nation’s children. Their lives have already been setback, and teachers of all people must lead the way in their ‘going back to school’.
No one will dispute that children need their lives back and the COVID-19 vaccine is a key step toward that recovery. I recall that UNICEF was behind the Royal Thai Government’s decision to vaccinate 600,000 teachers nationwide, before schools reopen. The reason is simple, as “… it is a critical and timely step, allowing them to teach in person, keep schools open and ensure learning continuity.”

I mean it is simple logic at work here. If health workers and high-risk groups were prioritised for vaccination worldwide, so that more safety was extended to all, including teachers and social workers, then we are to continue in this mode and ensure the safety and well-being of children and their families.
At the medical level it makes even more sense that teachers be vaccinated. According to President Irfan Ali, and he is right on track, “… vaccines inoculate everyone against this dreaded deadly virus, all of us should be troubled by those who refuse to be vaccinated. The unvaccinated are now as deadly as the virus itself, for they are not only susceptible to infection, they will carry it… the government has a responsibility to defend the health of all.”

It will be almost fatal and quite a shame if students were to have live, face-to-face sessions with their teachers. Indeed, “We cannot expose children to unvaccinated teachers,” the President intoned. True, vaccination for teachers might remain open to debate, but teachers, by nature and training, know better than to place personal issues, political agenda and selfishness above children’s welfare. Maybe, in Guyana here, we made a mistake, in not prioritising teachers as frontline workers, as indeed they are. Chile preempted confusion and hesitancy, as in its programmes of vaccination, teachers, in order to prepare for the return to classes, were inoculated. We cannot keep postponing school resumption. I call on our teachers to lead the way.

Yours truly,

Baldeo Mathura