From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Jul 22: All teaching and non-teaching staff in all government, aided and unaided schools will be vaccinated on priority basis as a safety measure, said Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Thursday.
Schools will have to be reopened sooner or later. Children cannot rely on online classes forever as online classes may impact the psychological health of the children, he said while speaking to media in Bengaluru.
“We will have wide consultation process before arriving at any decision. Expert opinion will be considered before taking such decisions,’’ he said.
School staff will be accorded priority and for vaccination. Parents and family members of the students have already been vaccinated, the minister said.
Dr Sudhakar said, “Our vaccination coverage will cross 3 crore doses in few days. Many people have developed antibodies themselves. Permission has been given to reopen Medical colleges. Higher education classes will also be started shortly. All educational institutions will be reopened in a phased manner and measures will be taken to ensure safety of children.’’
The Health Minister said a decision will be taken after consulting the Chief Minister.
He said 5% of the total cases in the state are being subjected to genomic sequencing to look for new variants. Everything is being done scientifically. The information is shared with ICMR, Dr Sudhakar added.