Vaccination not required among students for face-to-face classes, DepEd says
The Department of Education (DepEd) on Wednesday, March 23, reiterated that vaccination against Covid-19 is not a requirement for learners who wish to attend limited face-to-face classes.

“We have stated several times that we don’t require vaccination for children,” Education Secretary Leonor Briones said in a virtual presser.
“What we require is the consent of the parents, what we require and what we prefer, of course, is for our teachers to be fully vaccinated,” Briones added.
This, she explained, is based on the recommendation of five groups of pediatric organizations, experts on children, doctors, scientists, and researchers who have “advised us that children have very high resistance to Covid.”
Given this, Briones said that being vaccinated against Covid-19 is “not necessary” because DepEd “does not want to deprive them of this opportunity” to attend face-to-face classes.
“We are campaigning for children to get vaccinated but we are not insisting,” she added.
Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary Malcolm Garma also explained that participating schools in the progressive expansion of limited face-to-face classes will not be requiring learners who will join in-person learning to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
“We would like to emphasize that it’s not but we prefer that our students are vaccinated,” Garma said.
This, he explained, is in support of the government’s program on pediatric vaccination.
“We prefer that our learners are vaccinated when they participate in our limited face-to-face classes and of course, para na din sa proteksyon ng ating mga mag-aaral (this is for the protection of our students),” Garma said.
Vaccination, he said, gives some “level of confidence” among parents in allowing their children to participate in limited face-to-face classes.
Garma said that keeping a balance is very crucial. “As much as we would like to give an opportunity to as many children as possible to experience going back to school physically, we also have to balance that with the DOH’s program on vaccination,” he explained.
Aside from the consent of parents, DepEd is also requiring participating schools to secure permission from local government units (LGUs) before holding face-to-face classes.
Schools, she added, also have facilities that are “ready and friendly” for the conduct of limited in-person sessions.
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https://mb.com.ph/2022/03/23/10196-public-private-schools-now-implementing-limited-face-to-face-classes-deped/