Brighton Hill School appears on Good Morning Britain

Good Morning Britain camera crews arrived at Brighton Hill Community School this morning, September 14, to talk to head students and the head teacher about their feelings on getting the vaccine.

All children over 12 in England will be able to get their first Pfizer vaccination from next week and it is expected that schools will play a huge part in the roll out.

Head Students Mia and Caden @chrisedwardsuk/ Twitter

Talking on GMB head teacher Chris Edwards said: “Well we are yet to hear the details but hopefully what they’ll do is they will put the trust in us to be vaccine centres, should we need to be. I think that would minimise the disruption that students have because they’ve had quite a fair bit, as you can imagine, already. I’m hopeful that [the jabs] will be done by medical professionals.

“We’ve done about 5,000 lateral flow tests here over the last year or so. It has been a bit of a drain on staff but we are just ready to do whatever we need to do to get these guys back in school and make sure they have an undisrupted year.”

Adding: “I think possibly the best way would be to ask schools to clear up some space like the theatre or sports hall or something like that and we will be able to not administer the jabs ourselves but do the logistics. get the children out of lessons because it will minimise their disruption in what’s already been a tough year for them.”

@chrisedwardsuk/Twitter

At one point the school had almost 30 per cent of all pupils at home self-isolating after coming into contact with a person who had tested positive case for coronavirus.

Head student Mia Lyons, felt positive about the news, saying: “I think it’s a great idea and I definitely will choose to have the vaccine if it means I can stay in school and keep working hard for my last year.

“I do understand some people are a little bit hesitant and I will be doing some of my own research I think before I get it. Just for my own peace of mind.”

Cayden Farmer, also a head student at the school, shared similar views: “I think if I was offered I would definitely take it, because I think we’ve missed a lot of school so getting back in would be good.

“I’m quite happy with getting it. I’d just like to know a bit more about it to be honest.”

The decision to go ahead with the vaccines comes despite the JCVI deciding not to recommend mass vaccination of 12 to 15-year-olds.

The experts had said Covid-19 presents a very low risk for healthy children and that vaccination would only offer a marginal benefit.

But they suggested that wider issues, such as education, should be taken into consideration and examined by chief medical officers of each of the four UK nations.

The CMOs urged ministers to press ahead with extending the vaccination programme, arguing that there is “extremely powerful” evidence on the impact of the pandemic on children’s education, as well as the risks to their mental health from missing school.