The Bengal government has decided to vaccinate against Covid all students at institutes of higher learning in preparation of a possible reopening of campuses for in-person classes.
The health and family welfare department on Wednesday issued a notice to all district magistrates to make arrangements for the vaccination in consultation with the institutions.
The campuses of all colleges and universities have been closed since March last year as a precaution against Covid.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said last month her government was keen to reopen schools and colleges after the Puja break if the Covid situation remained under control.
The notice, signed by the secretary of the department, N.S. Nigam, says: “Now with a view of possible restarting of offline instructions in colleges and universities, it has been decided to vaccinate all eligible students.”
Hours after the order was issued, Jadavpur University registrar Snehamanju Basu issued a notice stating the government had decided to organise a free vaccination camp for all students on the main campus of the university.
“The date and venue will be notified later…. Students who are unable to come to the campus may take their vaccine from the nearest health centre by showing their university ID card/library card/admit card….” the notice says.
About a fortnight ago, the higher education department had started asking the universities about the vaccination status of the students.
“Before reopening the campuses after Diwali, we want to get the students vaccinated as much as possible. Cent per cent vaccination is believed to be the surest way to prevent any further surge in Covid numbers. So the camps will be organised over a period of time,” said an official of the education department.
A JU survey report, handed to the higher education department last week, states that as many as 2,000 students have got only one shot of a Covid vaccine and 800 haven’t taken a single shot.
Partha Pratim Roy, the general secretary of the JU Teachers’ Association, who oversaw the survey, said a decision had to be taken on whether those who had not received a single dose would be prioritised.
JU registrar Basu said a meeting has been called on Friday to find out how many students would be able to come to the campus.
On Tuesday the doctors who are attached with Kolkata Municipal Corporation visited the JU campus to decide on the venue of the vaccination camp.
“The camp will be organised at the TEQUIP building,” said registrar Basu.
The notice by N.S. Nigam said: “While the vaccines and vaccinators may be deployed by the office of the CMOHs other required logistics and manpower may be pooled in from the available resources of the educational institutions….for queue and crowd management.”
“We want the institutes to hold the camps in a decentralized way also as this would help in crowd management and maintain physical distancing norms,” said an education department official.
JU teachers early this month wrote to education minister Bratya Basu demanding that research scholars and final year undergraduate and postgraduate students who are vaccinated be “allowed on campus immediately” as lab-based subjects “cannot be taught online”.