Mangaluru: Schools and PU colleges in the district are gearing up to vaccinate students between 15-18. Several meetings with parents and health officials, to clear doubts regarding vaccination, have been held. The vaccination drive will commence from Monday.
The DDPI, BEOs, DDPU and principals of PU colleges have been appointed as nodal officers for smooth facilitation of the process.
C D Jayanna, DDPU, Dakshina Kannada, told TOI that close to 64,000 students from both first year and second year PU are eligible for vaccination. “Each college has been asked to conduct meetings with parents, with the help of health officials, prior to the vaccination. It is mandatory that each student obtains permission from their parents before getting jabbed,” said Jayanna.
District health officer Kishore Kumar M said that at the school level, only SSLC students are eligible to get jabbed. The schools will follow a procedure similar to what is followed by PU colleges. All the schools have conducted the first round of Parent- teacher Association meetings to clarify any doubts regarding the vaccine. “Dakshina Kannada district has a target to vaccinate 1 lakh students between the age group of 15-18. As per plan, the vaccination drive will commence on Monday, and the target will be achieved by January 13,” said Kishore Kumar, adding that those who are eligible, and not PU students, too can register and get jabbed.
In Udupi
In Udupi, the vaccination drive for students between 15-18 will be launched at Nittoor High School in Thangadagadi on Monday.
As many as 53,555 children of the age group will be vaccinated in the district, said deputy commissioner M Kurma Rao.
The district administration has identified 434 vaccinaction centres, including 309 high schools, 104 PU colleges and 21 ITIs, to administer Covaxin to adolescents born in or before 2007. Arrangements will be made to administer vaccines to school dropouts in the nearest institutions. Nodal officers have been appointed in each institutions, Rao said.
Surya Namaskar programme commences
As per the instructions of the department of pre-university education, PU colleges in Dakshina Kannada commenced the month-long Surya Namaskar programme. The DPUE has asked students to perform Surya Namaskar from Saturday to February 7, in all colleges.