November 10, 2021
School reopening could speed up student Covid push
Auckland and Waikato schools are set to reopen to students from next Wednesday – and that’s good news for the immunologist running the vaccination programme in the northern region.
Covid Response and Education Minsiter Chris Hipkins announced today that public health advice supported the return to onsite learning.
Years 9 and 10 will return fulltime, but it’s part time in the classroom for most students in years 1-8 – with mitigation measures including wearing of masks from year 4s up, ventilating classrooms, and limiting the number of students on site.
Dr Anthony Jordan from the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre says there has been a good uptake among 12 to 17 years olds, but having them in kura makes it easier to have the conversation about vaccination.
“A lot of what we are doing at the moment is utilising the school network to reach them, reaching them through other things like having Zoom hui to make sure they get the information they need as well as talking to parents abut how important it is for that age group to get vaccinated,” he says.
Dr Jordan says while all three Auckland DHBs have passed 90 percent first doses, that’s a milestone, not a target, and every vaccinated person over that makes the community safer.
He says the high level of uptake shows the anti-vaccination protests are supported by an extremely small proportion of the population.
There were 147 new cases of Covid 19 in the community reported today.
There were 131 in Auckland, two in Northland and 14 in Waikato, including 10 in Ōtorohanga.