Arakan State’s Public Health Department says upcoming Covid inoculations to target middle and high school students

By DMG 06 Oct 2021

DMG Newsroom
6 October 2021, Sittwe

Arakan State’s Department of Public Health says it is arranging to vaccinate middle and high school students against Covid-19.

When the next shipments of the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine arrive in Arakan State, students 12 years and older will be vaccinated, according to Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the department.

“We are now collecting the list of students. I heard that schools will reopen after students are fully vaccinated,” he told DMG.

There are 154,372 middle school students and 41,172 high school students in Arakan State, said Dr. Tun Tun Thein, deputy director of the Education Office in Arakan State.

“The vaccinations will be this month. We are preparing now to vaccinate the students. We have submitted the list of students to vaccinate,” he told DMG.

Schools throughout Myanmar have been shuttered since July 9 due to the third wave of Covid-19, which began manifesting in June. Schools were closed the entirety of the 2020 academic year due to the pandemic.

A total of 4,910 Covid cases and 474 deaths were reported in Arakan State as of October 5, figures from the state’s military council showed.

Through Tuesday, a total of 471,308 cases and 17,957 deaths were reported in Myanmar, according to the Ministry of Health.