A furious row has erupted after a cabinet minister accused Labour of putting lives at risk with its call to vaccinate teachers before schools reopen.
Liz Truss said the proposal would mean a vulnerable person “who isn’t getting their vaccine and who is more likely to die in the next few weeks and months”.
But a senior Labour figure last night accused the international trade secretary of failing to understand the policy before she spoke.
Labour is calling on the UK’s Covid vaccine committee to consider inoculating teachers once all those in the top four priority groups have been given their first injection.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves said the move would help get children back to school following months of home learning.
Labour says their policy would affect only the extra capacity the government says will come online in the next few weeks, and should not affect the government’s current timetable to vaccinate nine priority groups.
It denies anyone would have to wait longer than currently predicted for their jab.
Ms Truss said prioritising teachers would put the lives of others at risk.
She said: “The issue is that for every person you vaccinate who isn’t in the most vulnerable group, that’s somebody in the most vulnerable group who isn’t getting their vaccine and who is more likely to die in the next few weeks and months.”
She added: “I just don’t think that’s right. That’s the decision made by the independent committee that we are going to vaccinate first the over-70s and those in the most vulnerable group, and then the over-50s.”
A senior Labour figure said: “Liz Truss doesn’t seem to understand that this is about excess capacity and it would only take a day and a half at current rates to vaccinate all teachers and staff.”
The top four vaccine groups cover care home residents and workers, frontline healthcare staff, people over the age of 70 and the clinically extremely vulnerable.
Earlier this month, the government said it would aim to give everyone in those categories their first shot by mid-February, a target it looks set to meet.
The next five priority groups include those aged over 50 and those between 16 and 64 with underlying health conditions.
The Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisation (JCVI) has previously said the inoculation of certain professionals should be considered, but only once the top nine groups have been finished.
But Labour is calling on the JCVI to look at including teachers alongside those five groups next in line to receive the shot, in “phase two” of the vaccine rollout.
Party leader Sir Keir Starmer first floated the idea on Wednesday, before clarifying that the JCVI should make the final decision.
Ex-prime minister and former Labour leader Tony Blair is among the senior figures backing the move.
Mr Blair said there was a “very strong case” for teachers to be vaccinated before schools are reopened to all students in England, which the government has said will not happen before 8 March.
Ms Reeves also asked the JCVI to consider prioritising other front line workers such as bus drivers or police officers, because they are more at risk.
“We know that some people, because of the work they do, are more exposed to the virus,” she told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday.
Conservative Party co-chair Amanda Milling accused Labour of not “following the science” and “playing politics” with the vaccine.
