Vaccinate all school teachers by September 5, health minister urges states

Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the Centre would make two crore Covid-19 vaccine doses available to the states and Union territories this month.

Union health and family welfare minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Wednesday that the Centre would provide two crore doses of vaccines against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) to the states this month.

A teacher conducting online studies at People's Education Society School and College in Thane. (File photo/HT)

Taking to Twitter, Mandaviya said the vaccines are in addition to the Centre's existing scheme of providing monthly doses to the states and Union territories.

The health minister also urged the states to get all the school teachers vaccinated on priority before September 5, when India celebrates Teachers' Day.

The government decided to shut schools across the country in March last year ahead of a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19, classrooms shifted to virtual space.

While some states partially reopened schools for students of senior classes in a staggered manner, after observing protocol necessitated to check the spread of Covid-19 infection, around October last year, a complete shutdown was ordered in April this year when the devastating second wave of Covid-19 ravaged country.

However, with Covid-19 cases going down, some states have begun resuming physical classrooms now even as concerns over vaccination against the virus and a possibility of a third wave looms large.

Health ministry data show that more than 58.07 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been provided to states and Union territories so far, while India's cumulative vaccination coverage surpassed the 59-crore mark on Tuesday since the country launched the vaccination in January this year.

Meanwhile, India on Wednesday recorded 37,593 cases of Covid-19 in the previous 24 hours, taking the total caseload to 32,512,366 while the active cases stood at 322,327.