States Begin Special Vaccination for Students Going Abroad

Telangana, Karnataka, and Kerala are now following Maharashtra’s footsteps by providing priority vaccination for students going abroad for studies. Kerala has created a special for students and Karnataka on the other hand has provided an email id for the same.

Kerala’s Special Vaccination Drive for Students Going Abroad

The Kerala government has decided to give the second dose of the Covishield vaccine after 4-6 weeks of the first jab for students traveling abroad and issue vaccine certificates. For getting vaccinated, the applicants are supposed to produce documents supporting immediate travel. Once the application is approved, applicants are given the second dose and the vaccination certificate. Karnataka has also come up with similar guidelines for a special vaccination drive that aims to vaccinate 300 students going abroad for higher studies. 

Akriti Pandya, a 25-year-old, who has secured admission for MBA in an Australian University said, “My friends managed to get a slot on the first two days itself, and even though the system can act as a hindrance whenever we try to confirm slots, I finally managed to get my shot on Tuesday.” 

Vaccination Drives by Telangana and Andhra Pradesh

Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments have also announced a special drive for vaccinating students going abroad. But they haven’t begun the process yet and the officials in the two states informed that the process would start in a few days after the guidelines have been issued.

“Vaccination confirmation was not attached to the passport but with the PAN card and Aadhar card. But now, to facilitate the students and employees going abroad, it has been linked to passports.”
– Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, d\Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka

“In times like these, state governments need to empathize with the fact that students invest a lot of time and resources to get into their dream universities”
– Akshay Chaturvedi

A recent survey conducted by Leverage Edu with 5,000 students,  revealed that 94% were keener to travel and study abroad this year compared to last year. Of those surveyed, 58% said they made their plans within the last three months and 36% said they had these plans in place for much but are able to execute them only now.

Leap, another platform and education-centric neo bank said the vaccination drive will allow students to reach their universities for the fall semester. Vaibhav Singh, co-founder of Leap was quoted saying

 “Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, international students have been dealing with a lot of uncertainty with regards to their classes, whether they would be able to fly or not. Many students who were supposed to start their classes last year deferred their degree to this year, hoping to be able to attend offline classes.”

However, no such guidelines have been formulated in other states like West Bengal, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, etc.

We hope more states start special vaccination for students planning to study abroad. Let us know your point of view in the comment section below. If you are planning to pursue your studies abroad after class 12  & need some help our team of experts & counselors at Leverage Edu are just a call away. For the latest updates around study blogs, you can follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook & also subscribe to our newsletter.