Pics: Abhijith N Kolpe

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK)

Mangaluru, Jan 3: MP Nalin Kumar Kateel inaugurated the Covaxin vaccination drive for 15 to 18 year age group here at government pre-university college on Monday January 3, organised by the district administration, zilla panchayat, district health and family welfare department, pre-university education department and public education department.

Addressing the gathering, Nalin said, “India is the only nation to complete 140 crore vaccination. When corona hit the nation, no one had an idea about it. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for lockdown to protect the citizens that received tremendous response. The entire nation joined hands to tackle Covid. Today, we do not face any scarcity of bed, ventilator and oxygen unit. We have 103 ventilators at Wenlock. In the district, nearly 14 lac people have been vaccinated with two doses. Close to one lac people are not vaccinated. I urge them to get vaccinated at the earliest and protect themselves. Today, the district administration has planned to administer 25,000 doses for the 15-18 year age group.”

Deputy commissioner Dr K V Rajendra said, “The major concern in the district is that close to one lac people are yet to be vaccinated. As many as 16 lac people have been vaccinated with the first dose and 80% with the second dose. There are 7 cases of omicron in the district all with mild symptoms. The virus is spreading at a faster pace. Till today, we have not witnessed any side effects from vaccination. In the coming days, we will conduct testing and vaccination drives for which public support is crucial. We are expecting to receive guidelines on January 10 for the third doses. Malls and shops should take necessary steps to check vaccination certificates of the customers.”

MLA Vedavyasa Kamath, mayor Premananda Shetty, district health officer Dr Kishore Kumar, corporator Poornima, Zeenath and others were present.

Principal of government PU College Bharathi welcomed the gathering, Jyothi K rendered the vote of thanks and Dr Sarojini compered the event.

Covid vaccination to students – 87,000 covaxin doses ready

Around 87,000 doses of vaccine is ready in stock in Dakshina Kannada district. Vaccination of students will begin from January 3. Health department has taken precaution to prevent the shortage of vaccine.

There are 1,01,549 children in Dakshina Kannada in the age group of 15 to 18 years. Out of this 61,000 students are in Mangaluru taluk alone. In PU section 63,500 students are studying. The number of students studying in ITI and Diploma courses is around 3,000.

PDOs of gram panchayats are given the responsibility of detecting the students who are not reporting to school. They will be asked to take the vaccine in the nearest PHC.

CoWin app is opened for registration. Students can register themselves or through the health department personnel when they arrive at school or college.

Messages will be sent to the mobile phone of students or their parents. After 28 days, one more message will be sent for second dose. Health officials said that already parents are informed about this in a meeting.

Booster doses will be administered to 50,000 health department employees and 14,000 frontline warriors on January 10. Those who have completed nine months after taking the second dose of Covid vaccine are eligible to take the booster dose.