• NET Web Desk

Keeping in view of the “Omicron scare” and its escalating risks among children, especially the students, the Assam Government is now gearing-up to inoculate students between the age of 15 to 18 years from January 3, 2022.

According to an official notice order issued by the Secondary Education Department along with the Government of Assam, the exercise to administer COVID-19 vaccines to all the students and children between the mentioned age group will be completed by the first week of March and will further cover all the students.

The Additional Deputy Commissioners of the respective districts will supervise the conduct of the vaccination drive in a flawless manner in co-ordination with the Inspector of Schools of their respective districts.

However, the Inspector of Schools of the respective districts are instructed to select atleast 10 schools (in case of smaller districts) and 15-20 schools in bigger districts for the vaccination drive, commencing from January 3, 2022, and continuing the same process from January 4th onwards.

As per the order, the schools should make arrangements for two rooms separately for girls and boys for the vaccination. Two waiting/resting rooms may also be arranged inside the school campus for the vaccinated girls and boy students.

The Head Teacher/Principals shall encourage the students to motivate their parents to take the second dose of vaccine, if not taken earlier.

“The mobile number of the students shall be registered and if not available, Parent’s mobile number shall be registered. In case, both the numbers are not available, the Headmaster/Principal’s number may be used for necessary communication related to the vaccination certificate.”

Meanwhile, the Inspector of Schools shall co-ordinate with the District Health official team/vaccination teams as well as the officials of Cluster resource centers for smooth conduct of the Vaccination process, thereby ensuring that no students are left-out in the specified age-group.

“Inspector of Schools shall also collect the list of Junior Colleges/Polytechnics/Technical Institutions in their respective districts and co-ordinate with the Head of these Institutions for making arrangements of the centres for vaccination of the students in these Institutes. The Director of Technical Education, Assam and Director of Secondary Education shall extend necessary support in these regard.” – asserts the release.

“The Inspector of Schools shall also ensure that the students of private schools and venture schools are covered during the vaccination drive.” – the press release further adds.

Speaking about the same with ANI, the Assam Health Minister Keshab Mahanta asserted that the vaccination drive will begin with educational institutions.

Earlier, during his address to the nation, PM Modi said that “Vaccination for children aged between 15-18 years will begin from January 3, 2022.”

Its worthy to note that recently, the indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin has received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use in children aged between 12-18 years.