Schools, colleges reopen on Feb 1, 92.5% teens jabbed

Parveen Arora

Karnal, January 31

As schools and colleges are all set to reopen from February 1, 92.5 per cent teens (aged from 15-17 years) have been administered the first dose of Covid-19.

“Of the 64,070 eligible teenagers in the district, 59,249 have been vaccinated with the first dose,” said Civil Surgeon Dr Yogesh Sharma, adding that the vaccination card of students would be checked when they rejoin schools and colleges.

“The checking at schools will help in tracing the eligible teenagers for the first dose, while the checking at colleges will help in tracing those who did not take the second dose,” he said.

In the age group of 18 and above, there are 11,88,298 eligible persons. So far, 11,93,533, which is 100.2 per cent, have been vaccinated with the first dose, while 9,09,958 got the second dose, which is just 75.8 per cent, according to the data of the department.

The data further showed that 99.5 per cent healthcare workers, 96.8 per cent frontline workers, 69.3 per cent persons in the age group of 18-44 years, 81 per cent between 45-60 age group and 87.6 per cent above the age of 60 have been fully vaccinated.

Following the directions of the government, fully vaccinated certificates are being checked at various government offices. Despite this, a large number of eligible persons are not coming forward for the second dose.

“We are making all efforts to fully vaccinate the eligible population. Special camps are being organised at different places,” said the Civil Surgeon, adding that still a large number of eligible persons were not coming forward for the second dose.