Spanish health authorities said Tuesday that the country’s teachers would be among the first on the list to be vaccinated against the A/H1N1 influenza.

“In the same way that we cannot do without doctors, then also we cannot do without teachers,” Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez was quoted by the newspaper El Mundo as saying.

To date, Spain has confirmed 1,806 A/H1N1 flu cases and there have been six deaths.

It is expected that the number of cases will increase at the end of the summer when children return to school after holiday.

Jimenez said that for the moment the government had no plans to keep the schools closed to stave off the threat. But there will be new campaigns of information and also of vigilance within the education system.