Jabs for age group of 15 to 18 years to start in city today

kolkata: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will start vaccination for the age-group 15 to 18 years at 16 government schools, one in each of the 16 boroughs of the civic body from Monday. Though schools will be closed, vaccination drive will be held.

The government schools that have been identified as inoculation venues have already compiled a list of students belonging to this particular age group and have handed it over to KMC authorities.

The venues that have been earmarked are Bagbazar Multipurpose School in Borough I, Town School in Borough II, Saradaprasad Institution for Girls in Borough III, Bethune Collegiate School in Borough IV, Taki House for Boys in Borough V, Modern School in Borough VI, Sakhawat Memorial Girls School in Borough VII, Jagabandhu Institution in Borough VIII, Chetla Girls High School in Borough IX, Rajendra Shikshasadan Girls High School in Borough X, Santoshpur Rishi Aurobindo Balika Vidyalaya in Borough XI, VIP Nagar High School in Borough XII, Sahapur Harendranath Vidyapith in Borough XIII, Behala High School in Borough XIV, Nut Behari Das Girls High School in Borough XV and Uccha Balika Vidyalaya in Borough XVI.

"117 students of class XI will be receiving their jabs on Monday. Slots have been created from 9 am till 3.30 pm for the purpose of maintaining distancing. Students will have to come first and report at the waiting room. Then their names will be registered and accordingly vaccines will be provided. They have to wait for half an hour after taking the jab and then they will be allowed to leave the venue. We are interacting with the guardians so that the students turn up at the venue after registration as this will fast-track the process," Papia Nag, headmistress of Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School said.

Bethune Collegiate School has given 548 eligible students' list to health officials.

"This particular age group, majority of which will be students will be administered Covaxin. 1.5 lakh doses of Covaxin is already in our stock," Mayor Firhad Hakim said.

The venues will be ramped up and within two to three days at least 50 schools in the city will be equipped to administer the jab.

Vaccination for this particular age group will also be done from 37 urban primary health centres and all the medical colleges in the city.

The private schools in the city are mulling to tie up with private hospitals for inoculation of the 15 to 18 years group in their respective schools.