Chennai colleges expected to get special COVID vaccination camps, gov't says unvaccinated students will soon be barred from campus

The Greater Chennai Corporation is expected to begin its special vaccination camps inside colleges for students from December 11. Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian, on December 10, directed colleges to ensure that all of their students avail the facility. “All students who are over 18 years have to be vaccinated. The Greater Chennai Corporation will start special camps for students in colleges on Saturday (December 11),” said Subramanian.

Speaking to the media after a meeting with educational institutions at the Ripon Buildings, Subramanian reportedly said that more than 50 per cent of college students were yet to be vaccinated. He said that 46 per cent of the four lakh engineering students in the state have received their first dose of vaccine and only 12 per cent of them have received their second dose.

Delta clusters
Pointing to the 11 clusters at educational institutions across Tamil Nadu in the past three months, Subramanian said that the Delta variant has been detected in these clusters, The Hindu reported. “No cases of Omicron have been reported as yet,” the Minister said. Clusters of COVID-19 cases have been reported amongst students who were attending in-person classes at renowned institutions, such as Anna University and Madras Medical College.

Games such as football, hockey and cultural events have been banned in colleges until further orders. Higher Education Secretary D Karthikeyan has been asked to direct all colleges to use only disposable plates in their canteens. There are also directions to ensure mask-wearing in classrooms and limit the number of students in canteens. The Higher Education Department is expected to bring out a circular regarding the denial of permission for unvaccinated students inside classrooms. 

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“All the students who have tested positive at Anna University campus have been asymptomatic. They have been isolated at King Institute, Guindy,” Subramanian said, reportedly  “The test results of another 471 students in the campus has been received. All students have tested negative. This is good news,” he added.

Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said there were at least 120 index cases per day in the state. “We need to bring it to zero. We are also focusing on virus suppression,” he said.