The Kolkata Municipal Corporation is gearing up to vaccinate students above 15 years of age from Monday onwards while the camps will be set up at different school premises.

After much debate surrounding when Covid vaccine doses can be administered to children above 15 years since many have complained that despite having to attend schools or colleges, they are yet to get vaccinated, the civic body is gearing up to inoculate them.

Many parents expressed fears and stopped their wards from attending schools due to the fear. However, with a green signal from the state health department, the KMC will now administer covid vaccines to students above 15 years of age. Those that want to get vaccinated will have to register through the CoWin app.

Commenting on the same, Mayor Firhad Hakim said that the civic body has about 1.5 lakh Covaxin doses which will be given to children above 15 years. He said vaccination camps will be set up at different school premises but pointed out that not all schools have the provisions for the same and hence wherever it’s available, camps will be set up.

Mr Hakim further said that this is the time for precautions and not panic. “We the citizens ought to take all precautions instead of panicking. The latest covid variant (Omicron) is not leading to fatality but is contagious. We have to wear masks which are mandatory.”

The civic body recently held a meeting with all the councillors and members of its health department to discuss a strategy to tackle the covid spurt in the city. The KMC is about to set up micro containment zones in the city in places where there is more than one covid case. The deputy mayor Atin Ghosh has said that the civic body will first begin an identification drive whereby civic wards with more than one covid case will be marked in the priority list. This would be done with help of ward councillors who would gather the reports on the number of covid patients in their respective wards.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has announced that the state ought to raise its guard from 3 January and take all precautions to contain the virus spread. The spurt in cases has been observed throughout the city from South to North. While many who contracted the disease had recent travel history, others have no record of foreign travel and yet have contracted covid, said a KMC official. The civic body is carrying out public awareness campaigns in crowded places like markets and urging people to wear masks.