Dharamsala: With the collective effort of the health care centers and the Tibetans in exile under the leadership of the Central Tibetan Administration, the inoculation percentage of the COVID-19 vaccine for the eligible population of above-18 age group Tibetans in India is above 90 and in Nepal is above 85. 

The WHO also has been continuously urging all the people to get vaccinated to stop the spread and infection of the pandemic. By now, there are very strong pieces of evidence available which support that vaccination prevents infection and also the severity in case one gets infected. 

So, the host country India currently is preparing for the inoculation of the COVID-19 vaccine for the under-18 age group. Before the vaccination drive rolls out, the Department of Health, CTA based on the past experience sees the importance of getting the documentation and data collection of the children ready to monitor the drive in the future.

Therefore, the department arranged a series of virtual meetings presided by COVID-19 Emergency Task-Force committee chair, Health Secretary, Mr. Palden Dhondup, its committee member Dr. Tenzin Tsundue and higher officers of the department with the Tibetan Settlements Officers, heads of Tibetan Schools, Executive secretaries of health Centers to guide them in preparation for the drive in advance.

After the meeting, each school has appointed a staff who will do the registration of students’ data of their respective Schools in the Health Information System (HIS).

The HIS Program manager Ms. Tenzin Dolma and the Vaccine Data monitoring Team, Mrs. Tenzin Dolker, and Ms. Tenzin Dhazey of the Department held a virtual training yesterday with the appointed staff of the respective TCV schools from across India. For today and tomorrow, all the appointed staff of CST and STS schools will be trained.