TEACHERS are likely to be top on the coronavirus jab priority list once the vaccination of most clinically vulnerable are complete, the Health Secretary has said.

Matt Hancock’s comment follows reports of proposals for mass vaccination programmes for education staff over the February half-term.

He said it was important to break the chains of transmission, but that those at highest risk of death needed to be protected first.

According to a Daily Mail report, the proposal to vaccinate education staff has been drawn up by a number of educational bodies and would incur no cost to the government.

Speaking on Sky, Mr Hancock said: “It’s not a matter of logistics, the logistics can be organised.

“The challenge is the supply of vaccine, supply is the rate-limiting factor.

“The question is who should have each dose as it comes in… and we’ve taken the decision, quite rightly, to go through in order of clinical need, starting with those who are most likely to die from this disease.

“Of course we want to break the chains of transmission but we’ve also got to stop people dying from the disease if they catch it.

“We’re going through those who are clinically vulnerable… and after that there’s a perfectly reasonable debate to be had about who should go in what order next.

“Teachers have got a good shout to be very high on the list and those discussions are going on.”

Meanwhile, Hancock has also hinted that schools might not be fully reopened until Easter. He said it would depend on the levels of infection in the community at that time.

“We have got to look at the data, we have got to look at the impact of the vaccination programme,” he said.

“The Education Secretary (Gavin Williamson) has said that we will ensure schools get two weeks’ notice of return. I don’t know whether it will be then or before then. We have got to watch the data.”

Williamson is expected to rule out a return to the classroom after the February half-term break and would prepare parents for a prolonged period of home-schooling ahead.