Maharashtra govt seeks students’ data for on-campus Covid-19 vaccination

A youngster is vaccinated at Nair hospital on May 8. Pic/Suresh Karkera

A week after Covid-19 vaccination was opened for everyone aged 18 and above, the state's higher education department finally met to decide the way ahead to inoculate college students on campus.

Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant had announced the plan last month, but there was no further communication after that. A meeting was finally held on Friday at the directorate of higher education to brainstorm to conduct the vaccination drive on campus, and a pro forma was prepared to collect the required data of students.

"Information such as name of the student, his/her age, university, college, current mobile number, Aadhaar and other details such as department, class, etc will be collected in the prepared format. The details have to be submitted to the directorate of higher education on May 11," according to a circular issued by the Directorate of Higher Education on May 7.

However, there was no clarity on the execution of the vaccination drive. Principals have suggested allowing students to take the vaccine at a college near their residence, as many will have to commute from far away.

"We have students not only from the city, but across Maharashtra or even countries in some cases. In the current situation, it is not possible to vaccinate those faraway students on campus. What is the alternative in that case?" asked a city college's principal.

Another college principal suggested opening colleges for vaccination of not just students, but also others living nearby. "This will help ease pressure on healthcare establishments, as not all students can get vaccinated at their respective colleges because they live far away."

Talking about this, Director of Higher Education Dhanraj Mane, said, "Right now, we have just begun collection of data in order to understand the number of students. Once the data is collected, the higher and technical education minister will talk to the chief minister and the health minister to decide on a further plan of action. All concerns will be taken into consideration."