About 200 students of Jadavpur University received their first Covid vaccine dose on the campus on Thursday. The students included many from districts who said they could not take the shot because of long queues.
JU vice-chancellor Suranjan Das said they had made arrangements so that students in the districts could take the shot locally after producing their I-cards, library cards or other credentials.
Many students The Telegraph spoke to said they had come to the university to avoid crowds. “University credentials might ensure us a vaccine, but it won’t help us avoid the crowd,” said one of the students.
Some of them said erratic supply and lack of vaccination centres still led to large assemblies and they did not find it safe to take the jab there.
The drive will continue till October 8.
A student from Cooch Behar said after repeated attempts his parents managed to get their first dose on Monday. Arindam Roy, a Bengali MPhil student from Mathabhanga subdivision who came to Kolkata last month so he could use the JU library, said availability of the vaccine on the campus ended his long wait.
The health and family welfare department has initiated the vaccination drive across campuses in preparation of a possible resumption of in-person classes from November.
“I had to come to Kolkata and begin staying in a PG accommodation in Palbazar in Jadavpur because accessing books for my research was not possible from home,” Roy said sitting in the observation room inside JU’s TEQUIP Building.
The central library at the university is being kept open thrice a week since September 10, enabling students to collect and submit books.
A final-year student of the university’s evening engineering programme said she could not take the vaccine at her in-law’s place in Barasat because it was not possible for her to stand in the queue for hours while working from home.
The five-year evening engineering course is pursued by working professionals.
“My in-laws took the vaccines after waiting for hours in queues. But it was not possible for me, as I had to divide my time between working from home and attending online classes. My office, which is in Garia, did arrange for a vaccination camp in July. But as the means of transport were less then I could not come,” she said.
“Now I am coming to the office twice a week. Around the same time the university started the vaccination camp.”
Indrajit Pal, a first-year student of MSc in physics, came from Guskara in East Burdwan district to take the first dose.
Indrajit, who completed BSc from JU, said even as his father took the first dose in their village, he and his mother decided against taking the jab because they did not want to stand in “overcrowded queues”.
“Absence of physical distancing norms could pose a health risk. In the JU campus, the camp is being run following all the protocols. Whenever the rush of crowd subsides in our area, I will take my mother to the camp,” said Pal.
Erratic supply of vaccines has hobbled the vaccination drive in several parts of Bengal.