Vaccinations for teachers and early childhood educators became a hot-button issue this week when it was revealed the principal of Charnwood-Dunlop School Rob Lans had appeared in a video alongside Senator Malcolm Roberts touting an anti-vaccination agenda.

Mr Lans, who has reportedly stood down, said the vaccines were "experimental" and suggested there was a government cover-up about the effects of the virus. He would not comply with the mandate, which is in line with what is happening in both NSW and Victoria, and would rather run the risk of catching COVID-19.

It was also reported 79 ACT teachers had signed a letter opposing mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations as it would violate their human rights.

These disclosures have provoked an angry response from parents, grandparents and former teachers who believe those who work in schools and early childhood education have an absolute duty of care to put the health and wellbeing of their young charges first.

One retired teacher with almost 40 years of professional experience dating back to 1966 noted "from time to time" he and his colleagues had been asked to get vaccinated against diseases children were susceptible to.

In other words the mandate announced by the Chief Minister Andrew Barr earlier this month is neither radical or novel.

Mr Barr said the decision was made to support the return of face-to-face learning for children not yet eligible for a vaccination.

"Given that children under the age of 12 will be unvaccinated as school starts to return - the strong advice is that all possible measures need to be taken to surround these children with vaccinated people," he said.

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The decision was made on the back of a survey of more than 6000 teachers, parents, students and other educational staff that exposed a high level of concern about safety within schools once face-to-face learning resumed. Only 35 per cent of staff were confident schools were safe. Another 35 per cent believed they weren't and 30 per cent were unsure.

Meanwhile, 65 per cent of students were confident schools were safe, 15 per cent of students said they were not confident and 20 per cent were not sure.

Sixty per cent of parents and carers were confident schools were safe, 20 per cent were not confident and 20 per cent were not sure.

Parents, teachers and students have all done a great job in dealing with the disruption to education caused by the Delta strain outbreak and the lockdown in recent months. The high levels of apprehension and concern as classroom teaching resumes are perfectly understandable.

This is why it was such a bad idea, at the height of a debate over mandatory vaccination sparked by a very small minority of apparently selfish individuals, to flag the likelihood the policy could be wound back.

One would have assumed the ACT government would have realised, rightly or wrongly, many Canberrans would perceive this as an unfortunate concession to the lunatic fringe.

The timing was terrible and it was no wonder ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry refused to be interviewed on the subject on Thursday.

It would have made far more sense to double down on what is a perfectly reasonable mandatory vaccination policy and to tackle the anti-vaxxer element head-on.

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