Do international school teachers have to be vaccinated to work in Italy?

Rome: The Italian government recently decided to make Covid-19 health certificates – proof of vaccination, recovery or a recent negative test – compulsory for teachers and anyone else who works in schools in Italy, starting with the new academic year in September.
It’s a key part of the strategy to ensure that pupils can learn in person, after constantly changing Covid restrictions kept them in and out of classrooms for much of the past 18 months.

While some of the details remain to be finalised – such as who’ll be checking all those certificates every day – the Italian government is clear on the principal, which it enshrined in a decree of August 6th.
That decree states that the requirement applies from kindergartens through to universities, and yes – international schools are included.
The Italian Education Ministry made it explicit in an advisory note of August 14th: the measures apply to “state educational institutions, private and non-private”. Also included are nurseries, adult education centres, colleges of dance and music and other higher education institutes.

Private schools in Italy, including international ones, have been subject to the same rules as state schools throughout the pandemic, with the same quota of remote teaching and the same requirements to spread out desks and wear face masks.
And equally, international school teachers benefitted from priority access to vaccination in Italy, just like their Italian counterparts. The government’s latest figures indicate that almost 80 percent of school staff in Italy are fully vaccinated.
For those who aren’t, several options are available before the start of the new term.
If you have been vaccinated (or recovered) in another country, speak to your school about which documents they will require. While for general purposes health certificates from other EU or Schengen countries – as well as the UK, the US, Canada, Israel or Japan – are recognised in Italy, schools are responsible for checking teachers’ certificates and will be able to advise on what documents they can accept, along with how to get an Italian equivalent if necessary.

If you have had one dose in Italy and are still waiting for the second, you qualify for an Italian ‘Green Pass’, which is issued 15 days after the first dose. It will remain valid until you receive your second shot, 24-48 hours after which you can claim an updated version attesting that you are fully vaccinated.

If you have not had either dose, appointments are open to all adults in Italy. Find a guide to booking here. If you are not signed up to the public healthcare system in Italy, ask your school to help you make arrangements, or try one of the options described here.
Of the four vaccines approved for use in the EU, three are recommended in Italy for under-60s: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. While the first two require two doses roughly five weeks apart, you will be considered fully vaccinated 15 days after a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine – which means that you might still just about have time to get fully immunised for the first or second week of school.

Alternatively, if you recently recovered from Covid-19, you can claim a Green Pass by producing a medical certificate from a health authority. It will remain valid for six months after the date you were diagnosed.
If you are unable to get vaccinated for medical reasons, you should obtain a certificate of exemption from an authorised doctor in Italy, which you can use in place of a Green Pass until September 30th.
If you have chosen not to get vaccinated, you can continue teaching but you must take alternative measures to protect your pupils and colleagues – namely, you will have to get tested for coronavirus every 48 hours. Some schools may be providing testing on campus, at least in the early weeks of term: speak to your employer to find out what arrangements will be made.
Bear in mind that most schools are likely to advise you to get vaccinated as the most reliable way to comply with the government’s rules, not to mention to protect your community.

School staff who neglect to observe either vaccination or testing requirements, and who do not have proof of recent recovery from Covid-19, will be suspended without pay after four days of failing to show a health certificate.
The rules will remain in place from September 1st until at least December 31st 2021.
No school pupils of any age have to show a health certificate to attend class in Italy. However, university students – including at private institutions – are required to do so, along with lecturers and all other university staff.
Students who plan to attend courses in Italy between September and December this year should prepare to observe the same requirements outlined above.