Editorial: Ethics and Teacher Vaccinations during COVID-19

Abstract

When the call for papers for this special issue of Teachers’ Work was sent out, vaccinations for COVID-19 were not yet available in New Zealand and the Delta variant was not yet in the community. While New Zealand went through an early lockdown, and particularly Auckland had seen some further restrictions on occasion until that time, much of the impact of the pandemic on everyday life in New Zealand was still relatively low compared with what other parts of the world were experiencing, including parts of Australia and the UK, for example. Since then, the picture has changed dramatically. Delta has arrived and vaccines have been rolled out, slowly at first and more quickly and forcefully over time. On November the 15th of this year, vaccinations became mandatory for the majority of the educational workforce, including teachers in early childhood, primary and secondary schools. While the Government vaccine mandate has not been extended to those in the tertiary sector, the requirements of vaccinations for certain professions, such as health workers, teachers and others, have created a complexity for affected programmes. This includes exploring how to support students who might not be eligible to work in their chosen profession without vaccination, as well as figuring out which staff members need to be vaccinated before visiting students on placements in organisations, centres and schools that fall under the vaccination requirements mandated by the government.