KOLKATA: As universities and colleges in Kolkata prepare to conduct free vaccination drives for their students, a video conference was held on Tuesday evening among nodal officers appointed by the institutes and health officials. Nearly 60,000 students will receive the vaccine.
The state government is keen to complete the vaccination process for students before Durga Puja and so, the deadline for their inoculation was on Friday set for October 8. Within the next 10 days, 57,419 students will have to be inoculated. Of them, 19,902 students will require the first dose and 37,517 students will require the second dose.
"This gives students some hope of returning to the campus. Varsities and colleges should work in close coordination with civic agencies to ensure scheduled completion.-TimesView"
KMC, which will undertake the drive for Kolkata-based colleges and universities, said they would target 27 institutes in the first phase and then, would extend the facility to colleges on the fringes.
Among the city-based institutes will be Calcutta University, which alone has 1,600 PG students who require first dose and 2,800 second dose. KMC health officials said they would be able to provide a maximum of 300 vaccine doses to each camp.
Earlier on September 22, the health and family welfare department issued a notice, urging all district magistrates to look after the arrangement of free vaccination camps at various institutes within their jurisdictions. The vaccination data of all students at those campuses were subsequently submitted. A list of 88 colleges and universities has been prepared for the free vaccination drive.
The nodal officers earmarked for colleges and universities have been instructed to inform students to register their names on Co-Win; those seeking second dose will have to be told to list the names of the vaccines they will require, whether it will be Covishield or Covaxin.
Surendranath College principal Indranil Kar said the vaccination camp would start from September 30 and continue till October 8. “We are calling students in different batches and hope to complete within the deadline,” he said. Scottish Church College has submitted a list of 800 names, most of whom are either from the districts or other states.
“The requirement for the camp is for only 30 doses which will be done by Medical College and Hospital on October 4,” said Scottish principal Madhumanjari Mandal. Siuli Sarkar, principal of Lady Brabourne, said, “HODs will monitor the number of students taking the vaccine and the nodal officer will conduct the entire process.”
