Teachers are ideally placed to combat hesitancy over having the Covid vaccine, the leader of the Vaccine Confidence Project has said as a new union-backed teaching resource is launched today.

The classroom resource, supported by the NEU teaching union and designed to spark discussions around vaccine safety in schools, is being launched today by the Stephen Hawking Foundation, and is also backed by the Runnymede Trust.

Professor Heidi Larson, director of the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which helped to developed the resource, said: “I feel teachers are ideally placed to combat the UK’s falling vaccination rates.

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“This programme has been carefully calibrated to include the insights of some of the leading scientists in this field but to make the information accessible to people of all ages and communities.”

The trust between students and teachers will help to make the information more accessible, Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU, said.

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“I think there is a lot of trust between students and teachers, and this will be helpful in getting these messages across,” Mr Courtney said. 

The resource, Are Vaccines Safe, was first created by a secondary school teacher, Ed Stubbs, who was worried about the levels of vaccine fear among his students.

He said: “As a teacher previously working in inner-city Liverpool, and now in London, I have noticed students becoming increasingly fearful of vaccination. Some of my students and their families refuse their school vaccinations.

“I hear incorrect and ‘conspiracy’ information shared in my classroom. I fear that students’ real and fictional concerns increase UK vaccine hesitancy.

“The charged and often accusatory debate about vaccination choices can make young people feel hesitant about voicing their concerns and seeking help in debunking false information.

“They fear critical judgement over their doubts. I decided to create a set of unbiased resources for use in schools.”

The Stephen Hawking Foundation has worked with staff at Morpeth School, London, where Mr Stubbs teaches, to develop the resources.

The learning tool has been further developed with Queen Mary University of London and the Vaccine Confidence Project with the help of school-age students, teachers, scientists, science communicators and community representatives. 

The NEU is endorsing the resource and promoting it to its members. 

Mr Courtney added: “As a former science teacher myself, I know that school is absolutely the right place for this conversation to be held.

“Young people have many questions about Covid and the vaccine, and this is not surprising when they themselves have been so frequently at the centre of its news coverage.

“These brilliant tools are accessible and robust, tackling many of the myths which can build so easily online and within communities. We are sure that our members will find them a fantastic resource.”

Download: Stephen Hawking Foundation - ‘Are Vaccines Safe?’