The Lower House’s Health and Environment Committee was briefed Monday by Health Minister Firas Hawari and Education and Higher Education Minister Mohammad Abu Qadis on the prospect of returning to in-class education and enforcement of Defence Order No. 32.
Head of the committee, MP Ahmed Al-Sarahneh, said that the panel was briefed about vaccinating university students and faculty members against the coronavirus and making it mandatory, noting that the committee strongly supports the return to in-person education in schools and universities.
The panel, he said, will hold more sessions to keep up-to-date on “all developments related to the epidemiological situation in the Kingdom.”
Hawari said that the vaccination is not compulsory, but is in implementation of Defence Order No. 32 whereby anyone joining a gathering is required to prove that they were double-jabbed or had taken a PCR test.
The minister pointed out that 60 per cent of the new Covid-19 cases in the Kingdom are from the age group of 20 to 50 and 20 per cent are under the age of 20.
He also said that 89 per cent of faculty members had received the vaccine and 67 per cent of university students and 92 per cent of administrative staff were also inoculated.
He pointed out that an unvaccinated person who was previously infected with the virus is twice likely to contract the virus than an immunized individual.
The education minister, for his part, told the committee that the next semester will be in-person in schools and universities, urging faculty members, students and the public to take the jabs.
He said that pupils need not have PCR tests, but random swabs will be taken, adding that the double-shift system will be applied in some schools where there is overcrowding.
Source: Jordan News Agency