Immunization card likely to be a must for kids’ school admission

The government is planning to make immunization cards mandatory for students before their admission to schools. It has already made plans to have students taken to immunization centers near them if found unvaccinated. The plan will materialize once the National Immunisation Act, that is likely to be forwarded to the President, gets endorsed. The move is part of the Ministry of Health and Population’s (MoHP) plan to ensure total immunization coverage. According to data at the Ministry of Education (MoE), around 7.5 million students are enrolled in 34,000 schools, both government and private, across the country while around 1 million get enrolled in class one every year. Chief of the Child Health Division Dr Tara Pokhrel said they have been holding talks with the MoE on the matter and are getting positive response. Joint Secretary at the MoE Lava Deo Awasthi said they will soon give a nod to such a provision. Presently, the government has...