How to make schools safe this autumn.
For children and parents (19)________ many countries, September begins a new school year. It is a time of excitement, filled with shopping trips for new school uniforms and stationery, that marks the end of the summer holidays. Many of us remember the feeling well and do our best for our children (20)_________ make the transition into the next school year as enjoyable as possible. But this year is (21)________ COVID and other respiratory diseases that are expected to spread as children mingle with each other in indoor there is the looming worry of spaces.
Many countries (22)_______ vaccination of 12-15-year-olds against COVID to help reduce the burden of disease in this population, but there are still countries that are yet to decide on whether vaccinating younger groups is in their best interests. Although the higher health authorities have made the decision to vaccinate, there is still likely to be a significant number of 12-15-year-olds who are not (23) ________and, of course, anyone below the age of 12 will not have been vaccinated at all. This means we must rely on other measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus and other respiratory viruses among children while at school.