Un-Vaccinated Kids & Physical Schooling

COVID is still here, and the kids are attending their schools these days, that too without proper protection of vaccination. While that happens, Delhi is witnessing an increase in the daily positivity rate in the number of samples taken for the COVID testing. It is usually after Delhi witnessed a surge in the COVID cases that we, in J&K, also brace up for another wave of the pandemic. Even as the situation seems to be under control, the children continue to be at risk as they attend physical classes almost every day. The schools in this regard, too, have been callous as they have forgotten the SOPs that were made mandatory to be followed after the schools were finally allowed to reopen.

The risk remains because kids below 15 are unvaccinated and those falling in the 15-17 age group have been vaccinated partially. There was a kind of unwillingness from the parents to get their children in the 15-17 age group vaccinated and in turn has put those who are younger at more risk. The younger lot could have been protected in the presence of a vaccine, however, that too has not come out as of now while the Government has rolled out a booster dose, known as a precaution dose to all the age groups.

While the vaccination campaign widens, the kids below 15 continue to remain exposed to greater risk of COVID infection even as the Government has so far failed in making headway in this regard. The district administrations across J&K were supposed to carry out periodic inspections to see if the schools were adhering to the COVID SOPs, but for the sake of formality, the inspections were conducted for the first few weeks, and since then, there has not been any pressure exerted by the administration for the compliance of the SOPs. The leniency does not seem to be working against the pandemic which has ravaged lives across the world.

We saw complacency in Delhi and other states after they made the usage of facemasks not compulsory, and today these states are witnessing a daily increase in the COVID cases. As we see these numbers, we might have to ask ourselves whether we are putting our kids at risk by letting them attend their schools regularly. There is a need for devising a strategy for the schooling of kids as the COVID numbers appear to be rising again. There is a need for ensuring that there are just 3 days of schooling in a week, especially for children below 12—who have not been vaccinated yet. The same should continue till the time COVID ebbs once again and the vaccine is available for them.