Teachers in Yucatán are to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in May, announced President Andrés Manuel López Obrador during a morning press conference.
The program seeks to vaccinate all teachers in the state, regardless of whether they work in public or private schools. The vaccination program will run from May 19 to 28.
In total, Yucatán plans to vaccinate 61,045 teachers, as well as administrators and support staff.
The Yucatán government says that plans are already being put in place to ensure that the vaccine rollout goes as smoothly as possible.
If all goes according to plan, students in Yucatán can expect to return to in-person learning by next June, according to health undersecretary Hugo López-Gatel.
“We are looking forward to allowing students and teachers to return to classrooms, but this won’t mean that things will go back to the way they were before the pandemic. It is likely that facemasks and social distancing will be with us for a while to come,” said López-Gatel.
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COVID-19 vaccinations will be made available to teachers in other states as well. The first states scheduled to receive the vaccines for educators are Chiapas, Coahuila, Nayarit, Veracruz, and Tamaulipas — which will comence with vacciantions on April 20.
Mexico’s largest employers’ association, COPARMEX, has welcomed the move and says that the time has come for students to return to the classroom.
The vaccination program for Yucatán residents 60 years old and over has largely been seen as a success and has reportedly inoculated 185,000 against COVID-19.
Vaccinations for Yucatán residents between 50 and 59 could begin as early as next month, According to statements by Yucatán Governor Mauricio Vila Dosal.
It has also been reported that inmates in prisons across Mexico will also be receiving vaccines.
