Victorian teachers are expected to be fully vaccinated by November 29 as the Victorian government announced a plan to improve ventilation at all schools.
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Deputy premier James Merlino announced the requirement while at the daily coronavirus press briefing this morning.
"The chief health officer has advised that vaccination will be a requirement for work, under the Public Health and Well Being Act, for all staff at all schools including government, Catholic, independent and all early childhood care and setting," he said.
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"It is a requirement that (staff) have their first dose by October 18 and the second dose by November 29.. This will protect staff, students and children's families."
"We all know vaccination is the pathway through the pandemic. We only recently expand vaccinations for children aged 12 to 15 but children under 12 do not have access to a vaccine.
"We have to protect kids from contracting and transmitting the virus."
Bendigo Senior Secondary College principal Dale Pearce welcomed the news and said he didn't expect pushback from his staff and students.
"I would say a lot of people in our school community are already or on their way to being fully vaccinated," he said.
"We sort of expected this announcement so not at all surprising.
"School staff will embrace this because they want to protect not only their safety, but that of students and their colleagues."
Mr Merlino also announced an Australian-first program that will invest $190 million into upgrading and installing ventilation devices in schools.
He said the package was designed to help keep staff and students safe.
"We don't want to return to school and have thousands positive with COVID and getting sick," Mr Merlino said. "We know Delta is going nowhere but there are things we can do to mitigate the risk of airborne transmission.
"This $190 million package is to ensure when schools open, they can stay open."
The package includes a $125 million contract with Samsung to deliver 51,000 air purification devices to every Victorian school.
"This is a contract to deliver and the first load will arrive via air next week," Mr Merlino said. "Air purification removes nasty particle in the air including COVID.
"There is a huge global demand for these products and we are working get as many schools with devices as quickly as possible. It will be rolled out from week one of term four."
Mr Pearce said he looked forward to seeing the difference these machines would make in schools.
"I don't know the exact science behind it, but I trust the experts know the best way to keep our staff and students safe," he said.
The package also include $7 million to assist in getting assessment on more than 20,000 rooms at schools to help inform the roll out of air purification devices.
Almost $60 million from the $190 million package will be used in grants of $25,000 to purchase shade sails for schools in an effort to create more outdoor learning spaces.
Schools can register for the grants from today with applications closing on October 22..
A ventilation technical advisory panel will also be established to help undertake assessments in early childhood and youth justice settings to inform what future ventilation measures are necessary.
Mr Pearce said schools in regional Victoria were still unsure of when they would see all students back on campus.
"We're expecting a bit more information towards the end of the holidays," he said.
"There's no set date yet, but we're hoping to get everyone back in the classrooms as soon as possible."
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