West Bengal Health Department is set to organize cervical cancer vaccination camps at girls’ schools across the state. The department will seek consent from at least 50 guardians of students before conducting these camps on school premises. District health officials will coordinate with school headmistresses to arrange meetings with guardians to explain the importance of the vaccination.
The state health department official highlighted the initiation of a pilot project on May 30 aimed at preventing cervical cancer among adolescent girls in West Bengal. Over 1,92,940 girls have been vaccinated since the project’s launch, with recent efforts to accelerate the vaccination campaign due to a slowdown in the past two weeks. Consequently, the decision was made to hold vaccination camps within girls’ school premises.
If conducting camps on school grounds is not feasible, vaccinations will be administered at nearby health centers. Schools have been advised to collaborate with the nearest health facilities for vaccination arrangements. Each camp, whether at schools or health centers, will have a medical officer, vaccination staff, data manager, and a designated school teacher as the camp coordinator. Post-vaccination observation facilities will also be available at every camp.
