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Local parents, students, teachers react to voluntary vaccines for back to class

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London, Ont. -

Back to school planning is back on, but the one thing parents don’t have to plan on is getting their children a COVID-19 vaccine if they don’t want to. The provincial government says it will not make vaccines mandatory for students or teachers.

London parent Priscilla Deluca, who was enjoying Wednesday afternoon at Gibbons Park with her eight year old daughter, says she’s disturbed the government would keep vaccines voluntary. “This is the world we live in with COVID. This is the reality. And it should be one of those mandated vaccines for sure.”

For planning purposes, this past spring both London area school boards required families to decide whether their children would go back to class in the fall, or continue with learning at home. It was a decision families had to make before anyone knew whether vaccines would be mandated for schools.

Deluca opted for in class learning for her child. And while she wouldn’t have decided differently had she known, she says she still has reservations.

“The fact that the teachers are not mandated to get vaccines, it concerns me as well.”

Vaccines are not yet available to children under 12, but they are for high school aged children. According to COVID-19 Tracker Canada, ages 12 to 17 have the lowest overall vaccination rate of any eligible age cohort in the province. Just 23 per cent have one shot, and 16 per cent have two doses.

Ingersoll high school student 14 year old Ryan Knox received his second dose at local pop-up clinic. He says he’s not concerned about vaccine hesitancy among his peers.

“Some people take it seriously, some don’t. It’s all based on the person that you’re talking to.”

Retired high school teacher Cory Rochon Ratko, who could be found for an evening walk at London’s Springbank Park Wednesday, says she’s worried for her colleagues.

“Teachers, retired and otherwise, and I still have qualifications, are terrified to go into the classrooms. Some of us are immune compromised. Our supply teachers are older, they’re retired, and they’re coming back to supply.”

In the meantime, the president of Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, Thames Valley, Craig Smith, says the province’s back to school plan is based on “hope” that nothing goes sideways.

“The government is hoping that there isn’t a spike in numbers. They’re hoping that people don’t get sick and spread the Delta variant. They’re hoping they don’t have to, sort of deploy outbreak management plans. They’re hoping that the vaccines hold, and I would underscore all that by saying hope is never a strategy.”

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