These are the reasons Milton Keynes Citizen readers think teaching staff should be prioritised for Covid jab

It is the Government’s target for everyone in the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s (JCVI) top four priority groups to have had their first Covid vaccine dose by Monday, February 15.

These groups are:One – residents in a care home for older adults and their carers

Two – all those aged 80 and over and frontline health and social care workers

Three – all those aged 75 and over

Four – all those aged 70 and over and the clinically extremely vulnerable (shielding)

The Association of School and College Leaders said the past few months of the pandemic had put English schools under “enormous pressure”, calling for education staff to be prioritised for the vaccine.

Labour has also argued this week that teachers should be vaccinated in a bid to reopen schools – which are shut until at least March 8.

But Citizen readers say it shouldn’t be just teachers who are given the vaccine - essential workers should be among those invited for a Covid jab too.

We asked who you thought should be next in line for a Covid jab after those in the first four groups.

This is what you said on the Milton Keynes Citizen Facebook page.

Paula Jane Mooressaid: “I think they should get the vaccination because they’re already in the frontline...not just so we can send kids back to school!"

Denise Cowx-Martin said: “What about us Early Years practitioners working in settings as we speak, without social distancing, PPE or even access to on sight testing. We can’t really social distance from our colleagues let alone the children.”

Ian Clements said: “How many people would say yes if you had a underlying health issue? Is attending school for a few more months more important than the possible death of a parent?”

Theresa Edwards added: “Shop workers, delivery drivers, nursery school workers also put themselves at risk every day.”

Loren Ramseysaid: “Over 65s, who are retired, should stay at home as much as possible to reduce their own risks. Teachers have to leave their houses every day to be around groups of children who go home to their younger parents who are of working age. So of course they should be prioritised.”

Kerri-Ann Percy added: “Teachers, teaching assistants, cleaners, the cooks, anyone that works in a school right now should have them, not necessarily to get the kids back to school but to help protect themselves and reduce the spread as these individuals are currently looking after key workers children, key workers who are at risk of catching and spreading it to these people.”

Eileen Cardsaid: “Everyone who teaches a child, or works in an environment with children, regardless of it being a school or an early years setting (nursery) should have been on the priority list for the vaccination. Nonetheless, now we must and should use the half term holiday to do this and not waste another moment debating the issue.”