IEU pushes for paid vaccination leave
Read more about the IEU's campaign to prioritise vaccine access for education staff here.
The Victorian/Tasmanian branch of the IEU is urging schools to provide additional paid leave for education staff seeking vaccination against Covid.
Deb James, IEU Victoria Tasmania General Secretary, has written to employer representatives of all Victorian and Tasmanian Catholic and independent schools to request the provision of additional paid leave for vaccinations, pointing out that it has become increasingly difficult to book vaccination times after school or on weekends. Victorian Catholic employers have now all agreed to provide additional leave, as have some independent schools. We are still awaiting a response from Catholic Education Tasmania.
Provision of paid vaccination leave is an important way for employers to demonstrate care for the health and safety of employees, students and families, work to avoid the need for future school closures and support the broader vaccination rollout.
The IEU continues to lobby state and federal governments to prioritise school staff for COVID vaccinations and is also working with members and schools to ensure that schools are safe.
'Through our OHS and IEU Rep networks we have been reaching out to ensure that protocols for reducing transmission risks in schools such as minimising in-person staff meetings, ensuring staff are not unnecessarily required on campus and reducing parent contact time are in place,' Deb wrote.
Some educational specialists were included in latest priority vaccination access listed by the Victorian state government.
The most recent vaccination eligibility guidelines sent to Victorian schools were upgraded to include 'all teaching, support and administration employees in specialist schools directly working with students (within 1.5 metres of students for more than 15 minutes)'
The guidelines also apply to the same categories of staff if they work with 'students specified underlying medical condition or significant disability requiring frequent assistance with activities of daily living'.
The guidelines state that prioritised access for the above employees recognises the 'vulnerability of students living with specified medical conditions and significant disability to becoming very unwell if they become infected with COVID-19'.
Many other teachers remain restricted by the same vaccination rules governing the rest of the population, despite the potential dangers of aerosol transmission of the coronavirus in classrooms.
The vast majority of Australians under the age of 40 (including over half the education workforce) are not yet eligible for a vaccine, and scarce stocks of the Pfizer vaccine mean that availability for those in the 40-59 age bracket is very limited.
The IEU has lobbied the federal government to prioritise teachers and education staff in vaccine roll-outs since January.
At that time, SBS News reported that Russia gave teachers access to its Sputnik V vaccine, and the United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that states prioritise teachers during their second phase of rollouts.