ISLAMABAD: A day after the government decided to resume regular classes in educational institutions from next week, a minister said students won’t be allowed to attend in-person classes from October 31 unless they have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
The educational institutions were earlier operating on 50 percent capacity after they reopened following intermittent closures due to the prevalence of the health crisis.
The decision to resume classes at full capacity was based on the reduced level of coronavirus spread and the launch of the school vaccination programme, said Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, who is also chief of the National Command and Operations Centre.
Today, Minister of State for National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan said students who have received the first jab would be required to receive the second dose by November 30 in order to continue attending their classes.
He said this condition also applied to seminaries who were required to get their students vaccinated before the deadline.
Mobile teams will visit schools to administer the jabs as the government did not want students to lag behind in their studies due to the frequent closures of educational institutions, he added.
Emphasising the need to vaccinate children, the minister said the government had observed the disease was also spread by young people, especially during the fourth wave.
Sultan also allayed the concerns of parents regarding vaccines, reassuring them they were safe and approved by the World Health Organisation for injecting into young people.
He said some children might get a slight fever after getting vaccinated, advising parents to not worry as it was an effect of the drug. “Parents should not hesitate from getting their children vaccinated.”
Sultan maintained the vaccination was important not only to ensure uninterrupted studies but also to take the country towards normalcy.
