THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: COVID vaccination drive for children in the age group of 15 to 17 years will be given through schools from Wednesday. The health and education departments on Sunday decided to start the vaccination campaign. Those who were born before 2007 and before will be eligible for vaccination.
The school authorities have to ensure that all eligible students have registered on the CoWIN website. Walk-in children without registering their names on the portal will not be given vaccine. The jabs given will be recorded on CoWIN.
The school authorities will bring out the list of students registered for vaccination on a particular day. The students shall be intimated about the time of vaccination. The school authorities have to ensure a waiting area, vaccination room and observation room. The centre will be linked to the nearest government hospital.
The vaccination drive will be carried out by the district task force set up in each district in association with the education department. They will decide on the number of vaccination centres and sessions required. Schools with at least 500 eligible students will be turned into vaccination centres. There shall be a medical officer from the health department, a vaccinator, a staff nurse and a support staff from the school.
A statement from Health Minister Veena George said that all safety guidelines will be followed during vaccination. The children entering the vaccination room shall be checked for body temperature. Those with fever and other diseases will not be given the vaccine. The children shall be under observation for 30 minutes after the vaccination.
All centres will have facilities to manage Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI) which is any untoward medical occurrence that follows immunisation, said the statement.