• Target for 1 week: 1.50 lakh students, teachers and non-teaching staff
• Vaccinating 18-44 age group takes a back seat now till fresh stocks arrive
• In Mysuru district, 12 lakh get jabs till now; 51 lakh yet to receive doses

Mysore/Mysuru: Educational institutions and the District Administration are planning to vaccinate as many students in the eligible age group as possible before colleges reopen for physical classes. Since the eligible age for vaccination is currently 18 and above, this will benefit both under-graduate and post-graduate students as most of them are in 18-23 age bracket.

The State Government has communicated to all districts and Department of Health and Family Welfare to ensure that maximum number of students and staff are vaccinated from today. As part of the strategy, the vaccination drive for college students began in Mysuru this morning — both in city limits and taluk centres. In addition to students of degree, engineering and paramedical colleges, diploma and ITI students will also be vaccinated along with teachers and non-teaching staff. Vaccination will be taken up in select educational institutions which students can attend with their college ID and Aadhaar cards.

Today, the drive was launched in city at NIE and Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering (VVCE). The students had to undergo mandatory RT-PCR test before vaccination. The drive was symbolically inaugurated and supervised for some time by Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha, who said that the strategy was to inoculate all the students, teachers and other staffs before the offline mode of classes begin. District Health Officer (DHO) Dr. K.H. Prasad was also present. 

Good response 

Notably, the drive to vaccinate over 1,900 students from both the institutions received good response with students flocking the counters with their Aadhaar Cards. At present, the Government has given a target to vaccinate 1.50 lakh students, teachers and non-teaching staff in Mysuru within one week. Instructions have been passed to colleges to co-ordinate with the Health Department to get their students, teachers and non-teaching staff vaccinated by at least July 15, said Health Department sources. 

College sources told Star of Mysore that vaccination details will be sought by colleges on students’ admission forms when the classes reopen — whether they have received the first dose, both doses or none. On their part, students including second and final-year will have to inform their institution about the vaccination status before they join physical classes, sources added. 

Expressing happiness over getting priority in the jab drive, Arpitha, a student of VVCE told SOM that she is thrilled with the fact that soon, the colleges will be open. “It is not possible to perpetually continue with online classes. Vaccination will help us secure our careers and future too,” she said. 

VVCE Principal Dr. B. Sadashive Gowda, VV Sangha Secretary. P. Vishwanath. President Gundappa Gowda, NIE Principal N.V. Raghavendra, Placement Officer H. Diwakar, Public Relations Executive Shivajirao Gaekwad were present at their respective institutions.  

No jabs for 18-44 now

As a special drive to inoculate college students began this morning, the vaccination process at Government Hospitals and Primary Health Centres took a back-seat. Vaccines were administered to 18-44 groups only at a couple of private hospitals in city. Vaccine shortage is said to be the reason for this, reports said. 

The District Health Office sources, however, denied that there is a vaccine shortage. “We have a stock of over 37,000 doses to vaccinate college students and more stocks are expected today. If fresh stocks arrive, we will begin vaccinating all between 18 and 44 age groups,” an officer requesting anonymity told SOM. Now, the priority is college students, he added. 

As per the data provided by the District Administration, till now, only 12,23,905 lakh people have been vaccinated in Mysuru District and over 51 lakh people above 18 years of age are yet to receive their doses.