Teachers have a “good shout” of being high on the coronavirus vaccine priority list once the most clinically vulnerable have received their jabs, health secretary Matt Hancock said today.

Speaking on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Mr Hancock was asked about plans for a mass vaccination programme for education staff, which has been proposed by schools to vaccinate all teachers by mid-February.

First reported by Tes earlier this month, the plans have been drawn up by two academy chains, a private school group and the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, which represents nearly 300 independent schools, including the likes of Eton and Harrow.

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But Mr Hancock said: “It’s not a matter of logistics, the logistics can be organised.

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“The challenge is the supply of vaccine. Supply is the rate-limiting factor.

“The question is who should have each dose as it comes in… and we’ve taken the decision, quite rightly, to go through in order of clinical need, starting with those who are most likely to die from this disease.”

Mr Hancock added: “We’re going through those who are clinically vulnerable… and after that, there’s a perfectly reasonable debate to be had about who should go in what order next.

“Teachers have got a good shout to be very high on the list and those discussions are going on.”

Speaking in the Commons earlier this month, Mr Hancock said that once the clinically vulnerable had been vaccinated, teachers and staff in nurseries had a “very strong case” for being next in line.