Maharashtra is giving the second dose of vaccine within six weeks which will help students to arrive in time at their overseas study destination. Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana are following suit - while Kerala has opened a special portal for students, Karnataka has provided an email id for this.
The Kerala government decided to issue vaccine certificates carrying passport numbers to facilitate travel for students. The applicants will need to produce documents supporting immediate travel which will then be approved before the second dose is given and the vaccination certificate is issued.
According to the state health ministry, at least 2,000 students have applied for the preferential vaccine so far though on an average 20,000 students went abroad for higher education from the state pre-pandemic.
Karnataka has issued similar guidelines. Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments have also announced a special drive for vaccinating students travelling overseas and the process will start shortly.
This will definitely help ease the challenges of travel for many students who have invested money and resources for their overseas study plans. Many would have also deferred plans from last year and special vaccination drives like these will support their plans.
There is however a unique challenge for students who have taken the indigenous vaccine called Covaxin as it is yet to be approved by the WHO and this may pose a problem to students who planned to travel abroad for their higher studies.
If you ahve any questions write to aatreyee.guhathakurta@britishcouncil.org