PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is focussing on students of schools and seminaries to immunise the age group between 15 to 18 years against Covid-19 as positivity rate for the virus has further dipped in the province.

A report said that infectivity rate in Nowshera was recorded 6.2 per cent, in Peshawar 6 per cent and in Mardan 5.8 per cent as 18 more passed away of the virus and 285 new patients were detected in the province on Wednesday.

It said that province-wide mortalities from the virus reached 5,444 and cases soared to 174,874. Of the total confirmed cases, 159,865 patients (92 per cent) including 671 recorded during the last 24 hours have recovered from the infectious ailment.

KP govt focusing on vaccination of students

Nine of the deceased persons belonged to Peshawar, two each to Swat, Abbottabad and Mardan and one each to Nowshera, Kohat and Bannu.

“So far, we have inoculated seven per cent children between 15-18 years since last one week but the vaccination would get momentum because health workers were busy in polio vaccination,” officials said.

According to them, polio campaign will culminate on Wednesday (today) and they will fully concentrate on administration of Covid-19 vaccine to children below 18 years.

“Currently, the main focus is students of government and private schools and seminaries because they are the most potential source of transmitting the virus to each other and subsequently to the community,” said officials.

They said that many people were asking as to why the schools were being closed due to Covid-19 while markets were open even when the virus was at its peak. “The reason is simple. The students stay inside rooms for at least six hours a day which enhance chances of transmitting the virus, due to which schools are being closed now and then,” they added.

As opposed to schools, the people don’t have much interaction with each other for longer period in the markets and the chances of spreading infection to others are far lesser as compared to those staying in educational institutions.

According to a health department’s report, Covid-19 has killed three children between one to 10 years and 30 others between 11 to 20 years in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since onset of the pandemic early last year.

It says that 135 cases have been recorded among children between one to 10 years whereas number of Covid-19 active patients in the province in age group of 11 to 20 years is 1,159. There are currently total 7,000 active cases in the province.

“The children remain asymptomatic even being positive for the virus. Therefore, they put at risk older people in their homes and neighbourhoods,” said officials. They said that during the current drive, they had to provide jabs to 3.6 million children (from 15 to 18 years), nine per cent of the province’s total 39 million population, on the recommendation of National Command and Operation Centre.

They said that students were soft targets as they were available to vaccinators in their schools. The health department in collaboration with education department and district administration depute vaccination teams to educational institutions where they immunise students without any issue.

Officials said that vaccination of adult population was an ongoing exercise. So far, 10 million people received first dose and two million were fully immunised, they added.

Officials said that after educational institutions, the department had drawn a plan to give Covid-19 shots to children involved in child labour as part of the strategy to safeguard all the people against infection.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2021