Covid-19: São Paulo court forbids return of teachers to classes without full vaccination

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A São Paulo court has determined that state teachers can only return to classroom activities 14 days after completing the vaccination against Covid-19. The preliminary (provisional) decision is from Judge Emílio Migliano Neto, from the 7th Public Treasury Court of São Paulo.

The lawsuit was filed by the Union of Public Education Teachers of the State of São Paulo (Apeoesp), which claims that the São Paulo state government ordered the teachers to return to classes without having completed the vaccination scheme, that is, without having taken the two doses of vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech, CoronaVac/Butantan/Sinovac or AstraZeneca/Oxford/Fiocruz, or having waited for the 14-day period after the application of the single dose of Janssen.

In the lawsuit, Apeoesp asks that teachers be kept on remote work until they are completely immunized without prejudice to their salaries. The request does not include those who unjustifiably refused to take the vaccine. The injunction also establishes that teachers and other education workers who belong to the risk group remain in remote work even if vaccinated. They present a medical statement to prove the situation.

The São Paulo State Education Secretariat, contacted by Agência Brasil, said that the decision is already being appealed by the State Attorney’s Office (PGE) and has instructed schools and education directorates to comply with the decision.

According to the secretariat, 51% of the employees have already completed the vaccination scheme. The PGE informed Agência Brasil that the case is still under analysis.

In-person classes

Since August 2, state, private, and municipal schools in the state of São Paulo have been authorized to resume classes in person and can attend up to 100% of the students. This had not happened since the beginning of the pandemic when classes were suspended by the state government in March last year. Classes had already resumed earlier this year, but there was a 35% capacity limit.

To attend 100% of the students, the school will have to keep a limit of 1 meter of distance between them. Each school will be responsible for establishing this limit according to its physical capacity. If the school cannot receive all the students in person, it can adopt a relay system.

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