Poland Puts Off Mandatory Jabs for Teachers, Police, Army

Syringes with Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are pictured at the temporary vaccination point in the Wroclaw Stadium in Wroclaw, Poland, on June 26, 2021. (Omar Marques/Getty Images)

WARSAW, Poland—Poland’s Health Ministry said Tuesday that the March 1 deadline for full vaccination of teachers and so-called uniformed services is being pushed back indefinitely because it cannot be met.

Last year the government said teachers, medics, police, armed forces, and the firefighters need to be inoculated by March 1 if they want to perform their jobs.

But Health Ministry spokesman Wojciech Andrusiewicz said the deadline cannot be kept under the current pace of vaccination and the requirement remains in force only for medical staff.

Poland is going through the pandemic’s fifth wave, with almost 36,000 new cases and almost 290 COVID-19-related deaths reported Tuesday. Some 57 percent of the population of 38 million is fully vaccinated.