Covid-19: 93% of Abu Dhabi students aged 16 and above vaccinated

The Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge has brought forward the implementation of its Blue Schools Initiative following an increase in Covid-19 vaccination adoption to reach 37 per cent among students attending the emirate’s private and charter schools since the beginning of the academic year 2021/22.

Designed to support schools returning to normalcy through the gradual relaxing of preventive measures, the Blue Schools Initiative will now launch two months ahead of schedule, with schools set to reap the benefits of the initiative’s privileges during term 1 of the current academic year.

The move follows significant increases in vaccination rates among all student age groups currently attending Abu Dhabi’s Private and Charter Schools. To date, 93 per cent of students aged 16+, 68 per cent of 12 to 15-year-olds, and 21 per cent of under 12s have been vaccinated against Covid-19.

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Amer Al Hammadi, ADEK Undersecretary, said: “Our education community has demonstrated remarkable commitment to national vaccination aspirations, so it is only prudent to reward schools by expediting a return to normalcy and encouraging further vaccination uptake through the early activation of the Blue Schools Initiative.”

Currently, 34 of Abu Dhabi’s Private and Charter Schools have already advanced through the initiative’s four tiers to open up wide-ranging privileges. These include the relaxation of physical distancing and mask-wearing protocols, the reintroduction of field trips, on-campus events, and extra-curricular activities such as team and contact sports, as well as inter and intra-school sports competitions.

In line with the Blue Schools Initiative’s objectives to provide parents with full visibility of the vaccination status of their children’s schools, a dedicated section for the initiative has been developed on ADEK’s official website.

The tailored web pages enable parents to obtain general information about the initiative, the vaccination calculation method, as well as detailed information about the customized benefits of each tier. The website is also equipped with a filter that allows parents to search for a specific school, view its tier status, and track schools’ advances through tiers as vaccination adoption increases within its community.”

Vaccination of students under 16 remains voluntary, according to government protocols. In recognizing vaccination adoption as the key path to post-pandemic recovery, the Blue Schools Initiative encourages immunization of all students to increase protection against Covid-19 and minimize the impact of possible infections.

- ismail@khaleejtimes.com

• Abu Dhabi