WHO and UNICEF call on schools to open up in a safe environment
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Tuesday, August 31
Deputy Minister of Health of Georgia Tamar Gabunia announced that against the background of the difficult epidemic situation in the country, they will not make a decision to open schools until the infection rates stabilize.
“Continuing education in the classroom is a preferred model for everyone. Both UNICEF and WHO support this approach - the last thing that needs to be regulated is education,” she said, noting that this issue will be discussed with the Ministry of Education and then the decision will be made by the Coordination Council. As Gabunia stated at the briefing after the end of the Vaccination Council, the number of vaccinated teachers should be taken into account in order to create a safe environment in schools and, consequently, to continue their education in the classrooms.
Despite the worldwide spread of the coronavirus delta strain, the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia are urging schools to open up and create a safe environment by taking steps to minimize the spread of the virus.
Organizations say creating a safe environment in the school can be achieved by involving teachers and other school staff in the national immunization target groups and vaccinating them along with other vulnerable groups.
“Children aged 12 and over whose medical history significantly increases the risk of severe Covid-19 disease should be vaccinated. It is also important to improve the school environment with better ventilation of classrooms, segregation of children as needed, physical distancing and regular testing of children and staff.” read the UNICEF statement.
According to Gabunia, the vaccination of citizens aged 16 to 18 is quite high. As for the vaccination of children over 12 years of age, discussions are underway in this regard and Georgia is waiting for the recommendation of the WHO.
According to Hans Kluge, Regional Director for Europe at the WHO, it is vital that education in classrooms continues uninterrupted in the European region.
”The pandemic caused a catastrophic disruption of the educational process, which history does not remember. Consequently, it is vital to continue teaching in the classrooms smoothly in the European region. It is extremely important for children’s education, mental health and social skills that schools promote in children, for them to be happy and productive members of society. The pandemic will be forgotten after a while, but before that our main task should be to educate the children in a safe environment in the school building. We should not take away the opportunities we deserve.” he said urging all countries not to close schools, and all schools to take the necessary measures to reduce the risk of the spread of coronavirus and its various variants.
The joint statement also notes that the rapidly expanding Delta variant has created new challenges for this school year. An increase in coronavirus cases in the community also increases the likelihood of its spread in school. Therefore, everyone should contribute to reducing the spread of the virus.
"The available data show that complete vaccination against Covid-19 significantly reduces the risk of acute illness and death. That is why when they call for vaccination, everyone should be vaccinated and take the full course of vaccination," the statement reads.
According to Klug, to end the pandemic, we must rapidly and evenly increase vaccination rates in all countries. This includes supporting vaccine production worldwide, sharing vaccine doses, and assisting the most vulnerable groups of the population. We also need to continue to take proven public health measures, such as testing, identifying, tracking, isolating and quarantining.
According to Philippe Corey, UNICEF Deputy Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, it is unacceptable for children and adolescents to run the risk of missing another school year.
To ensure the openness and safety of schools, the WHO, the UN Children's Fund, and UNESCO have approved 8 recommendations for the school learning process developed by the WHO Regional Office for Europe during the Covid-19. These recommendations are intended for the 53 member states of the WHO European Region, which include the following:
1.Schools should be the first to open and the last to close; 2.Develop a testing strategy; 3.Develop effective measures to reduce risk; 4.Protect the mental health and social well-being of children; 5.Protect the most vulnerable and marginalized children; 6.Improve the school environment; 7.Involve children and adults in the decision-making process; 8.Actively vaccinate to keep children in schools.
The coronavirus detection rate for the last 7 days in Georgia is 10.04%. The current positive rate is 8.94%, and the last 14 days - 10.44%.
As of August 30, a total of 1,164,402 vaccinations were administered in Georgia, according to the National Center for Disease Control.
According to them, 383,454 people - 13.4% of the adult population - have been fully vaccinated, and 780,948 people - 27.3% of the adult population have been vaccinated with a single dose.
According to the Deputy Minister of Health the epidemic indicators indicate that the spread of coronavirus in the country has already reached its peak and now the main thing is how fast the rate of decline will be. Gabunia says, this depends on the intensity of preventive measures, activity in the vaccination process and where the virus transmission chain will be interrupted.
