The Covid-19 vaccination drive opened for teens between 15-18 years amid a surge in cases of the deadly contagion. In Assam, the health department has targeted to inoculate at least a lakh students in 34 districts on Monday.
State Health Minister Keshab Mahanta while inaugurating the vaccination drive at Gopal Boro Government HS School today, informed, that the government would ensure that the vaccination process for targeted students of at least 20 lakhs for age 15-18 will be completed by January 10 this year.
According to the guidelines of the Secondary Education district, the district Additional Deputy Commissioners (I/C Education) of all districts will supervise the inoculation drive and the Inspector of Schools has been instructed to select at least 10 schools in case of smaller districts and 15-20 schools in case of larger schools.
According to the last updated data of the Covid Vaccination Centre (CVCs), as many as 4,261 teens in Kamrup Metro were expected to be vaccinated on Monday in at least 15 schools.
According to initial reports accessed by Pratidin Digital, 360 out of 518 students of Don Bosco School, Panbazar, 52 out of 122 students of Kaliram HS School, 161 students in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Noonmati and 60 students in KV Narengi, 204 out of 480 students of Sonapur College, 120 students out of 350 of T.C. HS School, 71 out of 316 students of Kamrup Academy, 160 out of 316 students of Cotton Collegiate School, 240 out of 314 students of Gopal Boro Govt HS School, 92 out of 315 students of Sonaram HS School, 116 out of 298 students of Ulubari HS School, 213 out of 300 students of Dispur HS School, 39 out of 173 students of Kaziranga English Academy, 82 out of 200 students of Sonapur HS School, 112 out of 259 students of Naharguri HS School, and 97 out of 150 students of Gyan Jyoti High School were inoculated today.
Based on anonymity, few members of the CVC team deployed across these aforementioned schools stated that the inoculation drive was conducted smoothly. However, in several schools, the students' turnout was low mainly due to the lack of proper documents that are required to be produced during the vaccination process.
Most interestingly, few members revealed that parents of students denied permission to their wards to get vaccinated against Covid-19 that so far has claimed 6,165 lives in the state so far.
The CVC team members have also stated that the students who were not inoculated would get the dose of Covid-19 either on Tuesday or later during this week.
Notably, teenagers born on or before December 31, 2007, can online register at the CoWin app. The minors need to carry a school ID card, passport, Adhaar, or pan card. Contact details of parents and guardians can be used. On-site registration will allow those who cannot self-register in advance to walk into the identified CVCs and get themselves registered on-site and then vaccinated.
On December 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that vaccination for the 15-18-year age group will begin from January 3. Over 8 lakh teens have registered in the government's CoWin portal and all will get a dose of the indigenously developed Covaxin.
