KLANG: All teachers should be required to get vaccinated against Covid-19 as their work involves dealing with the young who are susceptible to the deadly coronavirus, say many interest groups.

       Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee member Nizam Bashir Abdul Kariem Bashir said Malaysia would not be the first country to compel those in professions with high levels of human contact to be vaccinated, adding that this was already in practice in the United Kingdom, Italy and Greece.

       He said individuals may be refusing vaccination for various reasons such as allergic reactions, religious reasons, beliefs that the risk outweighed the benefits, and the mistrust of science or the authorities.

       “Whatever the reasons or beliefs may be, it just does not hold up against what we presently know about vaccinations and the pandemic.

       “So to persist in that thinking despite the science is simply not reasonable,’’ said Nizam Bashir, who is a father of seven.

       He said statistics showed that most of those vaccinated completely avoided the disease, and the remaining 0.008% that contracted it showed no symptoms or suffered complications.

       “Given the above and the risk that unvaccinated teachers pose to students, teachers can and should be compelled to be vaccinated,’’ he added.

       Former National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Datuk N. Siva Subramaniam said as public servants dealing with children, teachers should put aside personal opinion about the Covid-19 vaccination and get inoculated.

       “If they don’t get vaccinated and end-up harming others, the victims are going to be children.

       “I call upon all teachers to be good examples by getting vaccinated,’’ said Siva Subramaniam who is also a former Suhakam commissioner.

       Retired teacher Mohd Saad Yaacob said there were some who believed they would die within two years if vaccinated.

       “Maybe these teachers are petrified by this myth, but since they are dealing with children that are mostly too young to be vaccinated, they have to be responsible and get vaccinated,’’ said Mohd Saad, adding that teachers must set a good example and do what is right and not be selfish.

       Another retired teacher Ng Sau Chan concurred, saying teachers must take note that they were dealing with young children daily.

       “Parents may opt not to send their children to school if they find out the teachers are not vaccinated,’’ said Ng.

       Lawyer Gabriel Susayan, who has two children in secondary school, said he will not send them to school if he found out that their teachers were unvaccinated.

       “I will not feel safe sending my children to school and exposing them to Covid-19 and will arrange for them to continue studying from home,’’ said Susayan.

       Mandy Chee said she would still send her nine-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son to school even if the teachers were unvaccinated, provided the number of Covid-19 cases reduced drastically.

       “But I will not do so if the number of positive cases remain high,’’ she pointed out.