Vaccination and education against the coronavirus: could the pandemic cause permanent changes in schools?

While the medical directors of UK, as the main government health advisers are known, assure that it is necessary to apply, at least, a dose of vaccine versus coronavirus in children between 12 and 15 years old (without risk factors) to reduce interruptions of colleges by contagion; two British researchers analyzed how the pandemic can lead to “long-term improvements in schools”.

In an analysis paper published in The Lancet, specialists belonging to London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, of UK, assessed “the risks associated with Covid-19 in schools”. They didn’t focus on the pandemic alone, however, but warned that prevention could lead to “long-term improvements in schools.”

“Students endured schools with inadequate ventilation, poor sanitation and overcrowded classrooms for generations“They said.

Vaccination in minors

Although at first the medical directors of the United Kingdom warned that there were not “sufficient health reasons” for immunize minors between 12 and 15 years old without risky conditions, this Monday they assured that there are “other factors” that could be determining factors to advance vaccination, as positive cases must be isolated for 10 days.

“It was a difficult decision,” said Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer of the United Kingdom, noting the recommendation, while clarifying that vaccination should not be seen as a “quick fix” but as a “Important and useful tool” to shorten interruptions in face-to-face teaching.

In this sense, and with a view to the next school year, the specialists stressed that the strategy would not only shorten the time spent interrupting education but also promote health benefits for the whole of society. Hence the importance that children are vaccinated with at least one dose. From now on, it will be the ministers of health of each of the countries that make up the United Kingdom who will define whether or not they adhere to this recommendation.

As explained, minors with comorbidities and those living with clinically vulnerable people, a universe that represents one in eight children, out of a total of three million who make up this age group, can now access two doses of the vaccine. The definition that was known on Monday covers people without risk factors.

Among the arguments put forward by specialists, the idea that it is only a single dose is based on the possibility that more than half of high school students have already been infected and acquired natural immunity. However, they believe that vaccination would prevent around 30,000 infections and that would avoid the loss of some 110 thousand days of presence between October and March, according to certain models disclosed by experts.

Members of the CMO (as the Medical Directors Group is known by its acronym in English) have also claimed that the shortening of these deadlines reduce the “damage” that the pandemic introduced to children’s mental health, “A sufficient additional advantage” to expand the immunization plan, being that in addition, boys from the most vulnerable areas were the most absent.

They also pointed out that vaccination with the development of Pfizer, the only one approved for this age group, it could be achieved in schools with parental permission; although in case the boy wishes to be vaccinated against the father’s decision, the serum will be administered to him, since they assure that he is competent and “has the last word”.

Pandemic: a change in educational paradigm?

And as British medical directors began to move towards vaccination to enable face-to-face “without too much disruption”, two British researchers assessed the pandemic as a driver of educational change.

According to the writing published in The Lancet, Led by Amy Gimma and Sham Lal of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, schools could not only apply “considerations to mitigate risks from Covis-19” but also “make long-term improvements”.

In its analysis and updating of data; and focusing on what is happening in the United States, the specialists estimated that the schools “will be tasked with delivering lessons while ensuring the safety of children and school personnel, a goal increasingly difficult in the face of the Delta variant ”, being that boys “suffer damage from school closures, such as obstacles to academic success and to psychosocial and emotional development ”.

“Success in reducing transmission through the use of mitigation measures in schools has likely led to an underestimation of the school’s potential contribution to community infections” because “screening policies based on symptoms may have missed a significant number of infections, “say specialists and warn that”the risk of the spread of Covid-19 within the educational community, their families and the community at large is multifaceted”, This is why they affirm that“ this risk should not be underestimated when weighing the risks and the benefits of the return to school of the children ”.

In this sense, they stressed that racial, religious, socio-economic and geographic differences, among other aspects, were not assessed in depth and stressed that to analyze the impacts of the pandemic and the “mitigation” measures in schools, specific assessments should be generated for “Deeper Understanding”.

In any case, they underlined the work of teachers and education authorities in the pursuit of face-to-face return and stressed that this situation can be “presented as a unique opportunity for collaboration and healthy debate” and thus avoid “the return to the status quo explicitly and deliberately”.

“Students endured schools with inadequate ventilation, poor sanitation and overcrowded classrooms for generations“said the specialists and stressed the need” to expand funding and innovative processes to ensure that the return to classroom education provides a safe learning, teaching and working environment for all.

Therefore, in addition to recommending the mandatory use of chin straps, vaccination campaigns, better ventilation in classrooms and addressing broader safety concerns, they highlighted the ‘Valuable’ opportunity to ‘make lasting improvements in schools’.