Nearly 5,000 NSW teachers risk being sidelined under looming COVID vaccine mandate

Nearly 5,000 New South Wales teachers are risking suspension because they haven’t yet said if they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, days before a vaccine mandate kicks in.

About 4,900 teachers haven’t advised the Education Department of their status, the department’s chief people officer Yvette Cachia told a budget estimates hearing in NSW Parliament on Tuesday.

Teachers who aren’t fully vaccinated will be suspended from Monday, when a public health order mandating vaccination for the state’s teachers begins.

Ms Cachia said it was not surprising many were leaving it to the last minute, given the international experience, and she expected many teachers to attest to their vaccination status in the coming days.

Almost 74,000 teachers are registered as fully vaccinated.

One Nation MP Mark Latham questioned why rapid antigen tests couldn’t be used for unvaccinated teachers, instead of suspending them.

“Rapid antigen testing certainly plays a role … but it’s not in place of vaccination,” Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said on Tuesday.

Vaccinating teachers was the best way to keep students and teachers safe, especially when children under 12 weren’t eligible to get the jab, she said.

Department secretary Georgina Harrisson said rapid antigen tests would not protect a teacher from being infected.

“Even if a staff member took a rapid antigen test and was not positive for COVID, they would be in a classroom where there could be a child that put them at risk,” she said.

Rapid antigen testing for schools is being trialled in the border town of Albury, which has an outbreak.

It is being used as surveillance in the community to make sure the outbreak is contained, and to ensure there isn’t transmission in schools, Ms Harrisson said.

The quicker, less reliable form of testing could also be used to limit the amount of time those exposed to the virus need to spend self-isolating.

The department is contracting about 30 short-term workers to act as investigators to look into teachers’ non-compliance with vaccine requirements once the mandate applies.

Ms Cachia said the surge workforce was to help complete investigations in a timely fashion to get teachers back into the classroom if the issue could be worked out.

“We want to be able to give certainty to our school principals on staffing,” she said.

“What we are trying to do is to ensure that before any decisions around employment are taken … that we have fair and due process for our staff,” Ms Harrisson said.

“That’s why we are increasing our capacity to do so. We want to make sure that … we are hearing every individual case appropriately.”

Meanwhile, changes to the NSW government’s reopening roadmap will mean additional activities return to schools from next Monday.

Assemblies and presentations will be allowed in cohorts outdoors, dancing and excursions are back, and music can be played if students can wear a mask.

Fully-vaccinated volunteers and providers can be on-site to support school operations or help out in the tuckshop or uniform shop.

Source: sbs.com.au