Karnataka government started a drive to inoculate college students on priority today.
As restrictions are relaxed and Covid vaccination picks up pace, the Karnataka government today started inoculating college students and staff members on priority so that offline classes can resume soon.
The move comes at a time when Bengaluru has crossed the 50-lakh mark in the number of vaccine doses administered and the state has clocked over 2 crore jabs.
Karnataka Health Minister Dr Sudhakar told NDTV, "It is a great day to tell you and announce that Bangalore alone has inoculated about 50 lakh people. And we have completed 2 crore 12 lakh in the state."
"Forty lakh people have got both the doses. About 1 crore 80 lakh have received a single dose. Now we are also trying to vaccinate and prioritise students who are undergraduates. If we have to start their colleges we need to vaccinate them."
The state government has said offline classes can start once the vaccination of students over 18 and college staff is completed.
Sharing a schedule for the vaccination of college students, Chief Commissioner of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Gaurav Gupta tweeted, "Vaccination is our most important weapon against Covid19 virus. Starting today we will be conducting drives to vaccinate the graduate students, faculty, and support staff. Please find the college vaccination schedule of BBMP on Monday, 28 June."
Twenty-one-year-old Umm E Afsha is a BCom student at a women's college in east Bengaluru where a vaccination camp has been set up. She is among hundreds of college students who lined up on Monday to get their vaccine shots.
"Vaccination is important for each and every person. We have to take our exams and pass our degrees. So it is necessary to take the vaccine and return to college," she told NDTV.
While many students are waiting for the empty campuses to come alive again, the hopes are clouded by the looming possibility of a possible third wave of Covid infections.
According to the state government, there is an adequate stock of vaccine doses to inoculate college students and staff on priority.
Colleges had earlier opened after the first wave flattened, but they had to be shut when the second wave of infections pushed up cases.