Most teachers on Class 12 exam duty skip vax drive

R SATHYANARAYANA

CHENNAI: The State government had announced that teachers deployed for Class 12 board exam duties would be given priority for COVID vaccination, but not many have come forward to get vaccinated, mainly due to fear about side effects.

Practical exams for Class 12 started on Friday, while the board exams are scheduled to be held from May 5 to May 31 for which several thousand teachers from government and private schools would be deployed. Following health experts’ advice, the School Education Department recommended administering vaccines on the staff deployed for exams irrespective of their age as prescribed in the general norm.

Last week, the Health Department directed civic authorities to allocate enough vaccine doses to teaching community well before board exams. However, it was reported that many teachers across the State even in the cities did not evince interest in getting vaccinated.

Talking to DT Next, a senior School Education Department official admitted that only a few thousand teachers have received the shot in the last week. “Though we had already told school managements to encourage their teachers to get vaccinated. But few have shown interest. So we have started organising vaccination camps in schools, including private institutions, so that teachers would come forward.”

According to a 46-yearold teacher of a government school in Pallavaram, many were worried due to the lack of information. “Many people got infected by coronavirus even after getting their first shot,” said the person.

Noting that many teachers were scared of getting vaccinated for silly reasons, K Venkatesan, an aided school teacher from Tambaram, said the health authorities should take measures to allay their fears. “For example, many women teaching staff who have headache feel the vaccine would further aggravate it,” he claimed.