Kashmir coaching centres to vaccinate all students above 15 years

SRINAGAR — Coaching centres have decided to go for mass vaccination of students across Srinagar from the first week of January.

This was decided in a joint meeting of the Coaching Centres Association and the Private Schools Association of J&K.

The meeting was chaired by Chief Medical Officer Srinagar Dr. Jameel and was attended by all the zonal medical officers of the Srinagar district. On this occasion, representatives of all the coaching centres of the Srinagar district were present.

It was decided in the meeting that a mass vaccination drive will be launched in the first week of January in order to cover all the children falling in the age group of 15 to 18 years and achieve the target of 100 percent vaccination in the UT.

Chief Medical Officer Srinagar Dr. Jameel urged the representatives of coaching centres to co-operate with the medical teams so that no child is left out. CMO said that it is a joint responsibility of the Health department, Education department and coaching institutes to stop the pandemic from taking any ugly shape.

He said that the third wave of COVID-19 can be stopped from entering the UT only if we achieve the target of full vaccination. He said that it is now a proven fact that vaccination reduces chances of death in COVID-19 patients and minimizes infection rate to a larger extent. He requested the tuition centre owners and teachers to help in mass awareness regarding compulsory vaccination of children.

Representatives of private tuition centres and Private Schools Association President G N Var assured the CMO of support from the private sector in getting children vaccinated at the earliest.

Var said students have suffered a lot during the last two years being out of schools and now it is extremely essential that schools are re-opened after a winter vacation in normal mode. “We cannot afford a generational loss of academic excellence and vaccination can be beneficial for normal schooling after vacations,” he said.

It is pertinent to mention that the government has decided to vaccinate children above 15 from January 3.