Hampshire headteacher hits out after being unable to get flu vaccines for staff

Headteacher at Horndean Technology College, Julie Summerfied, normally provides the vaccinations for her staff to prevent them from getting ill with seasonal flu and reducing staff absence.

However this year, ‘when the vaccinations are needed more than ever’, Mrs Summerfield has been told there are insufficient supplies available.

She said: ‘We have been providing staff with vaccinations since 2010 when a pharmacist from one of our local chemists would come into school to administer the vaccine. We normally pay for the service but this year I’ve been told there simply aren’t enough vaccines – I just can’t get them from anywhere.’

Having recently had to ‘send home my whole maths department’ due to Covid isolation rules the experienced headteacher teacher feels school staff should have been prioritised – particularly with the government having adopted the stance that schools should remain open, even during the recent national lockdown.

Mrs Summerfield added: ‘With the government placing so much emphasis on schools remaining open then surely providing access to a vaccine which can help to keep teachers in school should have been a priority.

‘We have to keep schools open at whatever cost yet we simply can’t get sufficient access to the vaccine to help to stay open. It’s frustrating that in the year of a pandemic when we need the vaccine most we can’t get access to it – that cannot be right.’

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Already having to manage staff and pupils being absent with Covid or having to isolate due to Track and Trace regulations, Mrs Summerfield feels the situation is being compounded by not being able to offer staff a winter flu jab.

She said: ‘We operate really strict bubbles but people still inevitably become ill. There’s a lack of realisation from the government of what it’s like to run a school on a daily basis under normal circumstances let alone in the current Covid situation – they haven’t got a clue.’

The government has this year expanded its free flu vaccinations to anyone over 50 - it was previously available to people over 65. With free vaccination eligibility have risen to nearly 30 million people pharmacists and GPs have struggled to meet demand.

Speaking previously on the issue a spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘Delivery of flu vaccinations is phased over the autumn and into winter, and priority is rightly given to those who are most at-risk with others being asked to wait to later in the year.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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