Milton Keynes councillor calls for Government to offer free flu jabs to teachers and school-based staff
A Milton Keynes councillor has called on the Government to offer free flu jabs to teachers and other school-based staff.
Conservative councillor David Hopkins, who is also the chair of governors at St Mary’s Church of England Primary School in Wavendon, has made the suggestion in a bid to reduce scenarios where large numbers of school staff are absent due to contracting the illness.
Cllr Hopkins said: "I am a governor at two city schools, chair of one, and whilst this has not been as bad a flu season as was at one stage predicted, I know the challenges senior teaching staff face covering for absent colleagues waylaid by the flu virus and associated medical complications.
"Schools across Milton Keynes and beyond are already operating under enormous pressure to deliver results in everything from academic achievement to pastoral care - we need to do all we can to ensure continuity of teaching all year round.
"These pressures impact everybody from management to teachers and support staff, so the last thing a school needs in the winter is a bad outbreak of the flu amongst the staff.”
Cllr Hopkins said he had received feedback from schools across the city that staff absence due to flu had forced significant alterations to timetables.
In a bid to stop this occurring every year, Cllr Hopkins says arrangements should be put in place for school-based staff, both teachers and those working away from the classroom, to receive free flu vaccinations every autumn.
He believes that these vaccinations should be offered at school sites around the country, as although the National Health Service offers free flu vaccinations to individuals in high-risk groups, this does not extend to teachers and other school staff.