To curb the coronavirus epidemic, the extension of school holidays beyond January 3 is “not the preferred scenario” and would only be decided “as a last resort”, declared the Minister of National Education , Jean-Michel Blanquer, this Sunday on BFMTV.
“From the start, there has always been pressure to close the school as soon as there is an alert and I have always resisted this pressure as much as possible because the school is not an adjustment variable. , it is essential for our children and therefore it is the last thing to close ”, he hammered. “This is what we do last because we put children first in all of our decisions, children first,” he added.
“We never close any eventuality”
Asked about a possible postponement of the start of the school year scheduled for January 3, the minister declared: “we never close any eventuality (…) but this is obviously not the preferred hypothesis, we would only do it as a last resort” .
“The incidence rate in the general population is a criterion but it is less valid now because a lot of people are infected, that does not necessarily mean much if there are a lot of people vaccinated. It is the saturation in hospitals and in intensive care units that is important ”to watch, he recalled.
Vaccination for 5-11 year olds soon in school?
Asked about the vaccination of 5-11 year olds, Jean-Michel Blanquer indicated that it is “not excluded to offer vaccination” at school, as has been “done in college and high school, for 12 -17 years “.
“We are able to do the same thing at school, but there the whole health system is organized to be able to vaccinate children outside the school system. We would be able to do this in certain places, for example where we know that we have to “go towards” to be more efficient and to have more families who get involved, ”he continued.
Childhood immunization struggles to convince
Asked about the fact that according to a survey, among parents of children aged 5 to 11, seven in ten do not wish to vaccinate them, the minister said: “that does not surprise me”. “Families are always more careful when it comes to children under 12, so 30% seems to me to be a good basis”.
“We started with figures like this when we were talking about 12-17 year olds and now we have waited and all the opinions are positive, international experiences are rather convincing so today parents (5-11 year olds ) can go in a reassured way towards this vaccine, as they go towards other vaccines ”, said the minister.