Too Risky To Reopen Schools In October Says Dap Man

---

 
Adolescents and children must be vaccinated by the end of the year before being allowed into schools in January, says Dr Boo Cheng Hau.PETALING JAYA: It is too risky to reopen schools in October when adolescents and children are not vaccinated yet, says a Johor DAP committee member.
Dr Boo Cheng Hau said there must be an aim for mass Covid-19 vaccinations among these groups by December before schools can be reopened.
“Schools should only be reopened in mid-January as students need time to develop sufficient immunity, presuming that no new variants of concern (VOC) arise,” he said in a Facebook post.
His call contradicts that of Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) chairman Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, who said it was time for parents to decide whether their children should be in school and to take responsibility for their education.
Noor Azimah said students not going to school was not an option as all parents would agree that being in school helped in their children’s development. She felt that hybrid learning could be the way forward.
Dr Boo Cheng Hau.She said it was also likely that all adults would be vaccinated by the end of October and, therefore, it would be safe to reopen schools next month.
Sarawak Teachers’ Union president Adam Prakash Abdullah also welcomed the education ministry’s decision to resume school sessions in stages.
He said this would give time for the authorities to assess the situation and make recommendations on whether it was safe to reopen schools or otherwise.
Adam said it would also enable all teachers to get vaccinated as well as prepare their classrooms for the return of the students.
Meanwhile, Boo said no country should be able to declare the Covid-19 pandemic as endemic just yet, until a few main strategies have been realised.
He said there should be new multivalent vaccines made available by mid-2022 and high vaccination rates across all borders, including in underdeveloped countries.
“If these (proposals) are realised, it is only by end-2022 that any country with near 90% immunisation rate can declare it endemic,” he said. - FMT

---