States asked to vaccinate all school teachers on priority before Sept 5

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday said more than two crore additional COVID-19 vaccine doses are being made available to states this month, and they have been asked to vaccinate all school teachers on priority before Teachers' Day on September 5.

"In addition to the plan to provide vaccines to every state this month, more than 2 crore vaccine doses are being made available. We have requested all the states to try to vaccinate all school teachers on priority before Teachers' Day, which is celebrated on 5th September," he said in a tweet in Hindi.

Schools across the country were closed in March last year ahead of a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of novel coronavirus infection.

The Centre had allowed reopening of schools as per the COVID-19 situation in October last year. While several states began partial reopening of schools, there was a complete closure again in April when an aggressive second wave of COVID-19 hit the country.

With the improvement in the COVID-19 situation, several states have begun reopening schools now even as concerns have been expressed over the staff and teachers not being completely vaccinated.