A beneficiary receiving Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination centre in Delhi. (Express photo by Amit Mehra) The Delhi government has decided to close all fixed vaccination centres in schools, with Covid-19 vaccinations in the capital seeing a dip after reaching saturation in the adult population. However, vaccines will continue to be administered to children between the ages of 12 and 17 years in temporary camps at their schools.
More than 90 per cent of Delhi’s adult population are double-jabbed and schools are to become fully functional soon.
“Fixed Covid-19 vaccination centres at school complexes and other educational institutions for the general population shall be discontinued with effect from 1st April 2022…. The venue/address of the nearby health facility providing vaccination shall be prominently displayed at the discontinued school venues,” said an order of the director of family welfare, Dr Monica Rana.
The order issued on Thursday stated that vaccination would continue at all Delhi government healthcare facilities as well as facilities run by the central government, railways, armed forces, municipal corporations, the cantonment board and the Employees State Insurance Corporation.
“In order to cover the 12-14 year cohort and the remaining 15-17 years (first and second dose) cohorts, vaccination shall be conducted at school sites in camp mode, as per requirement, in close coordination with the education department. Out-of-school children shall be mobilized to the nearby health facilities,” the order read.
Vaccination numbers picked up this week in the capital, with more and more children between the ages of 12 and 14 years getting the shots. The jab drive for the children, using BiologicalE’s Corbevax, started on March 16. Over 59 per cent of all the doses administered on Wednesday was in this age group, according to the government’s CoWIN portal.
The order also stated that additional nurses and doctors would not be hired for the vaccination drive after April 1. “Hiring of additional manpower for vaccination activity is not to be extended beyond March 2022,” the order read.
District officials have been asked to rationalise the deployment of ambulances to take students suffering from adverse reactions to hospitals. “The ambulances will only be required for the sporadic camp mode activity, for which the routine, existing CATS (centralised accident and trauma services) ambulances can be positioned/put on alert near these locations on specific days as per the district action plans,” the order read.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
