Three teacher unions have backed industrial action, up to and including strike action, if the Government does not prioritise them for vaccination.

The unions have reacted furiously to the decision to vaccinate people based on age rather than profession, as soon as the elderly and vulnerable have received their jab.

This morning, the INTO, TUI and ASTI voted in favour of industrial action.

The motion commits the unions to ballot for industrial action if teachers are not prioritised for vaccination by the end of June.

The Taoiseach has since confirmed that there are no plans to change the vaccine rollout list.

Minister for Education Norma Foley launching a Roadmap for Reopening Schools in July 2020. Picture by: RollingNews.ie / JULIEN BEHAL PHOTOGRAPHY

It means there should be no disruption to this school year; however, should the Government fail to roll back on the changes, the return to school in autumn could be in doubt.

The Government has insisted the new strategy will speed up the rollout and is “more efficient, more transparent and fairer.”

Ministers have noted that, under the new plan, older and more at-risk teachers will now be vaccinated quicker than they would have been under the old plan.

The updated vaccine rollout strategy. Image: Department of Health

The Education Minister Norma Foley has pointed out that the priority list was updated because international evidence confirms that “age is the strongest predictor of whether a person who contracts COVID-19 will be admitted to hospital or ICU or die as a result of their infection.”

Addressing the INTO Congress yesterday, she pointed to NIAC (National Immunisation Advisory Committee) advice, warning that older people aged 60-65 are 70 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than those under 35.

The unions meanwhile have argued that, when they agreed to return to school earlier this year, they were promised, in writing, that they would be in the first one-third of the population to be vaccinated.

They are calling for teachers to be included among those who are "living or working in crowded settings" - which would see their vaccinations being administered alongside people aged 55 to 64-years-old.

Teachers are not the only profession to have voiced anger at the updated plan – with Garda representatives last week warning that they had been ‘abandoned, taken for granted and led up the garden path’ by the Government.’