State government officials at a meeting with Kolkata Municipal Corporation representatives said they want students aged between 15 and 18 to be vaccinated against Covid at their schools, government sources said.
Mayor Firhad Hakim said after the meeting that the students could also get vaccinated at the KMC-run centres that are administering Covaxin.
According to a directive from the Centre, only Covaxin could be administered to children in the 15-18 age group.
Government officials said the KMC would start vaccinating students on January 3, the day inoculation of the 15-18 age group will kick in across the country, in a school in each of the 16 boroughs in the city.
Gradually, more schools will be brought within the drive.
“We will vaccinate children by visiting their schools. We have 27 Covid vaccination centers administering Covaxin. Those who are in the 15-18 age group can get vaccinated in any of these centres, too,” Hakim said
The KMC is the nodal agency for Covid vaccination in the city.
A health department official had said on Tuesday that the government wanted to administer the first dose to everyone in the 15-18 age group in the state within a month from January 3.
For camps to be held at schools, the institutions have to provide data entry operators and other support staff and the KMC will provide vaccinators and the jabs.
Each school has to nominate a nodal officer who will coordinate with the KMC. Before vaccination starts, the KMC or the state health department will train data entry operators deputed by the school
“We will vaccinate 200 students in each school each day. The school education department will provide us with a list of schools in the city and the number of students eligible for vaccination,” said a KMC official.
It was not clear till Wednesday whether the KMC would organise vaccination camps in private schools, too. A KMC official said there was no guideline yet from the health department on organising camps at private schools.
“We have the capacity to conduct vaccination camps at both private and government schools,” the KMC official said.
Mayor Hakim said the KMC would provide doctors for camps to be held at government schools. As for private schools, he said, the authorities can arrange their own doctors.
A state health department official had earlier said about 45 lakh individuals in the 15-18 age group would need to be vaccinated in the state.
“It would effectively be the 15-17 age group as those who are 18 became eligible for Covid jabs earlier,” he had said.