Faculty and other staff should be on vaccination list

Tunisia has put employees in the higher education sector on its COVID-19 vaccination priority list, a move that makes it the second of 10 Arab North African countries after Morocco where university teachers are currently vaccinated as a priority group.

The government made an official announcement on 14 May. This was followed by a Tunisian ministry of higher education and scientific statement saying it was prioritising groups most at risk in the higher education sector.

Professor Sami Hammami, the vice president of the University of Sfax in charge of programmes, training and professional integration, welcomed the decision and told University World News that he hoped it would be implemented rapidly.

“The announcement did not distinguish between academics and workers in higher education. Details will certainly be given soon … But it is not advisable to vaccinate university staff and professors and leave administrative staff and workers without vaccinations,” Hammami said.

Najmuddin Juweidah, the general coordinator of the Union of Tunisian University Teachers and Researchers (IJABA), told University World News: “We consider the governmental decision to identify the university community as a COVID-19 vaccination priority group as a late response, but better late than never.

“Since January, IJABA has been calling for the classification of employees in the higher education sector as frontline workers to allow them to get the COVID-19 vaccine,” Juweidah added.

According to the Reuters COVID-19 tracker, Tunisia has fully vaccinated 2.3% of its population of about 12 million persons using a vaccine eligibility plan that prioritises recipient appointments based on age, employment category and medical history.

COVID-19 within the higher education sector

Juweidah said professors, students, employees and workers were at risk of exposure because they had to keep doing their jobs, despite a lack of health protocols, which resulted in infections and even deaths.

“Unfortunately, there is no official statistic but we estimate the COVID-19 infections within the university community to be around 8.5% (1,700 infection cases from a total of about 20,000).

“As for the deaths, we recorded about 20 university staff cases in Sfax and Carthage through condolence posts on Facebook,” Juweidah pointed out.

He said data about infections and deaths among students and workers were not available.

By 15 May, Corona Tracker showed that Tunisia has officially registered 325,280 cases of the coronavirus, including 11,727 fatalities.

In the north African region, Morocco has the highest number of infections, followed by Tunisia.

Hope to finish the academic year

For Hammami, the inclusion of academics on the vaccination priority list will give university lecturers and professors more confidence to return to face-to-face teaching and to finish the academic year.

“The prioritisation of members of the university family will contribute to their protection and reduce the speed of infection as students and staff use public transport daily, mix in large numbers in university restaurants and dormitories and professors are teaching students in very crowded lecture rooms and halls, which puts them at risk daily,” Juweidah emphasised.

“The conclusion of the university year is possible, given the partial protection that the vaccination will provide,” he pointed out.

He called on the government to accelerate the provision of vaccines, given the resumption of hybrid teaching and in-person exams, training and discussions of research work at higher education institutions from 19 May, and the opening of university dormitories and restaurants from 16 and 17 May respectively.

“Besides 53 COVID-19 vaccination centres across Tunisia, universities could help in facilitating and accelerating the vaccination process for the higher education community and their family members by establishing vaccination centres at its medicine and health sciences faculties,” said Juweidah.