The Education Minister says he believes teachers should be given the Covid vaccine as a priority in the next phase of the roll-out.

But Health Minister David Ashford said the government will wait to hear what recommendations will be made by the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

Arguments have raged in the UK about who should be next in line for the vaccine.

At Monday’s Covid briefing, Dr Alex Allinson was asked if he would support teachers being given the vaccine as a priority.

He said this was something that had already been discussed by the Council of Ministers.

Dr Allinson said the ambitious vaccine programme was aimed at protecting those most at risk from serious illness and death.

He said: ’We are limited in the roll-out to the supplies that we get.

’But I hope that as those supplies increase we can actually make a priority for those frontline workers, which involve not only teachers but the other people who work in schools as well as our police officers and prison and probation staff.’

He said there was a ’whole gamut of people across the public and private realm’ who are at increased risk from the virus because they come into contact with people on a daily basis.

’So it is certainly a priority for us but we can’t lose sight of protecting those people who are far more at risk of ending up in intensive care at Noble’s,’ he told reporters.

But the Health Minister pointed out that the vaccination programme is in two phases with the first phase offering the jab to vulnerable groups and those aged over 50.

He said the calls in the UK to reprioritise keyworkers were in relation to phase two of the roll-out.

’It’s not arguments about them jumping into phase one,’ he said.

Mr Ashford said the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has not yet set the priority list for phase two.

’That is where the argument is coming in, saying keyworkers such as teachers, police officers, prison officers, the fire brigade, should all be a priority of phase two,’ he said.

’So we will look at that and we will also look at what the JCVI recommends for phase two, which is basically the phase May to September.’