Huge rush for vaccination drive for students travelling abroad

Some have raised concerns about inadequancy of screening

Students travelling abroad for higher studies and employment queue up for vaccination in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

There was a huge rush for vaccination on Monday, when a drive for students set to travel abroad for higher education or work began. On day one, 275 in the category were inoculated. Although the drive was suppposed to begin at 3 p.m., the students gathered at the Bengaluru Central University as early as 9.30 a.m.

The personnel managing the drive were taken by surprise, as they were expecting around only 25 to 30 students. The exercise went on till 7.30 p.m. and will continue at the same campus for the next few days. Students, however, have demanded that the government should not allow walk-ins and should give appointments to avoid rush.

Deepak Kamath, who accompanied his daughter for vaccination on Monday, said they were glad that the State government had taken up this initiative but was unhappy about crowding and absence of social distance. There was also a need for thorough verification of the documents so that only eligible students are able to avail the benefit, he added. There were complaints that the screening procedure was not adequate and even those without documents were able to get the jab.

Authorities in charge of the drive acknowledged that there was a need for better screening. “But there is no way we can verify if students are actually showing us authentic documents,” the official added.

Several students, who were travelling abroad for higher education and residing outside Bengaluru, demanded that a similar drive be held in all districts.

Draws flak

The drive drew flak from doctors and public health experts who said that it was unfair that the gap between two doses was reduced to a month for people under this category, while others had to wait for 12 to 16 weeks.