UGC urges Universities to help with COVID-19 vaccine roll-out

The National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) has recommended prioritisation during the initial phases to Health Care Workers, Front Line Workers, persons aged 50 years and above and lastly those below 50 years with co-morbid conditions.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has urged the Universities and colleges across the nation to help in the successful implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination programme. In an official notice addressed to the Vice-chancellors of all Universities and Principals of all Colleges, Professor Rajnish Jain, Secretary, University Grants Commission (UGC) said, “The smooth and successful roll-out of the vaccination programme requires pro-active support of all stakeholders including Universities and Colleges. Universities have an important role to play through their network and other platforms to support the campaign for the roll-out of the vaccination programme.”

The vaccine will be initially available in limited stocks. The National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) has recommended prioritisation during the initial phases to Health Care Workers, Front Line Workers, persons aged 50 years and above and lastly those below 50 years with co-morbid conditions.

Seeking the cooperation of universities in disseminating the information related to the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has written a letter to UGC. “In the face of such a swift evolving scenario of vaccine development and rollout, one of the challenges is to ensure that the over 1.3 billion people in India receive factually correct and prompt information and updates on vaccine benefits and roll-out progress. We will need to actively collaborate towards building such an environment of universal vaccine acceptability and the key will be an effective communication action plan for proactive dissemination at all levels (State, district, block, village, family level).”

“A vaccine roll-out of this scale is not possible without pro-active support of key stakeholders. Ministry of Education has collaborated with MoHFW as an equal partner hitherto and especially during the outbreak of COVID-19. would request you to kindly support the campaign roll out with support from University Networks and Online talk platforms as well as leverage points of large footfalls,” the letter from MoHFW secretary reads.

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