williams said many parents have now been vaccinated, including those with kindergarten-age kids, and the province has now begun vaccinating children as young as age 12.
“you need everyone coming together to say, ‘yes, we’re ready to move on that,’ including parents, staff and teachers as well as the boards of education, the (ministry of education and ministry of health),” williams said. “we’re all coming together on that one so we hope to have a decision soon.”
tuesday’s “urgent” open letter comes several weeks ahead of a policy report commissioned by the royal society of canada that reaches the same conclusion, vaillancourt said in a phone interview tuesday.
the group initially planned to hold off on making an official recommendation until the fall, but was motivated to post the open letter ahead of schedule when the canadian paediatric society called on educators to voice their opinions about school closures.
“the evidence is clear and supports that this is causing harm to children and youth, so sitting on (the recommendation) didn’t seem very ethical,” vaillancourt said.
the group is specifically calling on the ontario government to “reopen all schools safely, and without delay, and work toward ensuring schools stay open for the foreseeable future.”