NO data is available on unvaccinated teachers in Northern Ireland amid concerns that a minority of staff are not jabbed against Covid.
While the main teaching unions say they are not aware there is an issue, The Irish News has been contacted by a number of principals due to problems with uptake.
With the education system plunged into crisis as outbreaks force hundreds of pupils to be sent home for testing, head teachers say absences among unvaccinated staff are being felt - as these individuals must self-isolate for 10 days if they come into close contact with a positive case.
One principal said he felt it was a "dereliction of duty" on the part of those teachers who refused to get jabbed as they were "frontline" professionals during a pandemic.
No head teacher would speak publicly about the situation.
"While the children are in theory supposed to be off for two days after PCR tests, unvaccinated teachers will be off for 10 days on full pay no matter what," the principal said.
"As well as concerns about transmission and duty of care to children, there is also the financial implication which is massive as subs will be required to replace those who cannot work."
The Department of Health, which publishes daily vaccination uptake rates, said there was no breakdown by profession.
Under data protection laws, principals cannot ask teaching staff about their vaccination status.
Compulsory Covid jabs for teachers and school staff were introduced in New York's public school system last month while they are also mandatory in parts of Canada.
A study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently found that an unvaccinated teacher in California had infected half their pupils with the Delta variant after reading aloud unmasked.
Graham Gault of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) told The Irish News his union would be "both surprised and disappointed" if "there is any evidence to support the idea that there is an abnormally large number of unvaccinated teachers in our schools".
"Given that teachers and, indeed, all in-school staff, are frontline workers in direct contact with vulnerable and unvaccinated children every day, it is the position of NAHT that frontline staff should be vaccinated," he added.
"At the beginning of the covid crisis, we actively campaigned for our school-based staff to be prioritised for vaccination, given the relatively unprotected nature of their roles.
"Therefore, if there are no other health-related reasons why an adult working in school cannot be vaccinated, we continue to encourage people to avail of the vaccination programme in order to both protect our school communities and contribute to the wider social response to this public health crisis."
Mark Langhammer, regional secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said any concerns about vaccination uptake has "not been raised by members to date".
He added however that it "remains a matter of choice or conscience".
"We would, nonetheless, ask all our members in schools and colleges to make informed choices for the common good," the NEU chief said.
Both the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) and NASUWT teaching union also said they had encouraged members to get vaccinated.
