Centre vows 2 crore extra vaccine doses for priority immunization of school teachers

As several states across the country are preparing to open schools for all students, over two crore additional doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be made available to states over this week, the ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) said in a statement. In addition to that, all states have been urged to vaccinate the teachers before September 5, which is celebrated as ‘Teacher’s Day’.

The announcement of providing two crore additional doses was made by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Twitter. “In addition to the plan to provide vaccines to every state this month, more than two crore vaccine doses are being made available,” tweeted Madhaviya. The Union Health Minister also requested all the states to complete vaccination of the school teachers on priority before Teacher’s Day.

Re-opening plan

MoHFW has also released the details of the plan. “In line with the announcement made by the Union health minister, more than 2 crore additional vaccine doses will be dispatched to the States from August 27 to August 31 to vaccinate school teachers and non-teaching staff on priority,” said the ministry in a statement.

The ministry also suggested that to increase the vaccination coverage of school staff the states may use the UDISE (Unified District Information System of Education) data and co-ordinate with the Education Department, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and Navodaya Vidyalaya Sangathan.

High-level meeting

Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Union pharma secretary S Aparna reviewed the progress of the vaccination across India at a high-level meeting attended by the representatives from all states and UTs.

All the states and UTs were urged to focus on enhancing the dose coverage as well as the immunisation of school teachers and staffers across government and private schools. The states and UTs have also been asked for prompt utilization of the Emergency Covid Response Package (ECRP) funds.

Bhushan also warned the states regarding a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases during the upcoming festival season and advised them to put all measures in place to curb the spread. The example of Kerala was cited, where a visible spike has been seen post the celebration of Onam last week.

Over 60.38 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far across the country as on August 26. 46,81,30,627 people have received at least 1 dose, while 13,62,60,584 have received both doses.