The regime government’s Ministry of Education has decided to prevent visitors who have not received COVID-19 vaccines from entering all of its institutions, despite the minister’s admission that there are “inadequate vaccines” and the decision does not force the ministry’s employees to receive the vaccine.
The Ministry decided to implement this decision in all educational institutions, including the Ministry of Education and its directorates, as well as other educational institutions throughout the country. The decision stipulates that people be allowed access to these institutions only if they have received the vaccine and upon producing their vaccination certificates, the pro-regime newspaper al-Watan quoted the Education Minister as saying.
The minister said that the procedure will be introduced from the middle of January, with the aim of giving those who have not received the vaccine an opportunity to take the shot.
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As to why this procedure has not been applied to Ministry of Education employees, Tabbaa explained that the ministry cannot force employees to take the vaccine. The issue falls within the domain of personal freedoms; nevertheless, next year the ministry will continue working towards an outcome where all employees in educational institutions have received the vaccine, albeit without it being an administrative obligation.
On why educational staff in schools were not obliged to receive the vaccine, he said that it was not possible in the immediate future. This is because giving the vaccine to teachers and not to students would not achieve any results. The important thing is for students to receive a vaccine, which is not possible due to the unavailability of vaccines to cover the needs of students and demographic groups identified by recommendations from the national COVID-19 task force, being those with chronic diseases and the elderly. Therefore, for now, there is no possibility of providing the vaccine for all. Some measures are being relied upon to gradually increase the proportion of vaccinations.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
