studying teachers' immunity and stress amid covid

for the covid-19 immunity task force (citf), which was established by the government in april 2020 shortly after the pandemic began and with a two-year mandate, the focus continues to be about understanding the nature of immunity arising from the novel coronavirus that causes covid-19 and supporting vaccine surveillance.

the sample size will be considerable with the ontario study , which is set to enrol up to 7,000 education workers. those enrolled will be observed for 12 months in order to note all possible factors associated with infection. the québec study, meanwhile, is building off an existing citf-funded study called encore , which has been focused on children in schools and daycares in four montreal neighbourhoods. they will now be incorporating teachers, while the b.c. study will be adding students into their pre-existing teacher study.

since last summer, there have been conflicting reports over just how at risk teachers are. in august, ontario’s chief medical officer of health dr. david williams announced that the province’s teachers would not be facing a greater risk of contracting the virus than other frontline workers while in class as long as they and their students adhere to safety precautions.

when the first vaccinations were rolled out in canada in december, the canadian teachers’ federation, a not-for-profit organization that represents over 300,000 elementary and secondary school teachers across the country, said in a december press release that those working in-class are at risk of exposure “every day.” the organization pushed for teachers to be given vaccine priority, but based on last week’s phase 2 roll-out , ontario teachers will likely be waiting until june for vaccinations, as priority continues to be for older age groups, those with high-risk chronic conditions and those in at-risk areas.