Secondary schools to open based on vaccine uptake

Danah Shiwgobin was the first child to receive her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at Saint Stanislaus College on Thursday (Ministry of Education photo)

The Ministry of Education on Friday announced that nursery and primary schools will reopen for face-to-face learning on September 6, while secondary schools will open in accordance with the vaccination programme currently being rolled out across the country.

“I think we can read that to mean that we expect those children who will go into (secondary) schools will access this vaccine and get it,” Minister Priya Manickchand told a press briefing at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) at Kingston.

Government is currently inoculating children aged 12 and over with supplies of the Pfizer vaccine, which has been approved for their age group. Manickchand has already explained that the doses of the vaccine donated by the US government should facilitate the vaccination of more than 90% of the eligible student population.