The Lib Dems have called for teachers to be vaccinated against covid after the Government admitted schools were the epicentre of high community transmission.

My colleague Daisy Cooper, who is the Lib Dem Spokesperson for Education and MP for St Albans, has written a letter to Ministers Gavin Williamson and Matt Hancock to ask them to vaccinate teachers as part of category seven.

This would make them a top priority after everyone working in the NHS and social care and those most at risk by virtue of their age, being clinically vulnerable or having an underlying health condition.  It comes as the Secretary of State for Education announced that teachers’ estimated grades will replace GCSE and A-level results.

Day after day teachers and school staff have put themselves at enormous risk during this pandemic in order to keep schools open.  Now that the Prime Minister has finally admitted that schools have been at the epicentre of high community coronavirus transmission, teachers must be given priority access to the covid vaccine.

However, vaccinating teachers on its own will not be enough to re-open schools safely.  To reduce transmission among pupils and their families, the Government must review how pupil ‘bubbles’ should work, ensure every school has its own single-school transport, and that the school’s coronavirus testing programme is fit for purpose.

I welcome the fact that teachers’ estimated grades will replace GCSE and A-level results but this decision could have been made sooner and would have avoided undue stress and worry for students, teachers and parents.  It is also crucial that the Government act quickly to address questions on how grades for vocational qualifications such as BTECs will be awarded.