The Rush for Vaccination Amidst The Perplexed Dreams for Studying Abroad

The world has been fearful of a disease that continues to desolate humanity for over a year now. As a result, there has been a consistent endeavor to bring a scientific solution to this deadly disease. The efforts have been brought out to us in the form of the vaccination drive. As soon as the countries worldwide suffered from the COVID-19 virus, the need to research and develop a cure commenced at the exact moment. All the rich countries in the world received the vaccine much earlier than middle or lower-income group countries like India or Africa. As a result, the vaccination drive in India began in April for people above 45+ and from May 1st for people above 18+ years.

The vaccination drive is in full swing in India. However, the current development indicates the scarcity of vaccines across various states in the sub-continent. One cannot deny how gruesome the conditions were in the past month in India. Amidst the WHO & ICMRs discovery of a new mutant variant of the COVID virus, the country struggled to breathe along with the mounting cases in the Capital (Delhi) and other parts of the country. Therefore, it is even more essential for every citizen to get vaccinated and break the chain of spreading the disease. However, the scarcity pulls back the situation from getting better.

The vaccination drive in countries like the US and UK is intensively increasing to control the spread of the disease. As a result, most people in these countries have been vaccinated except for the teens/kids aged 12-16 years. In addition, most foreign countries are open to accepting tourists and students to get back to the pace before the pandemic phase. Nevertheless, the study abroad aspirants from India are still in limbo where they are waiting to get vaccinated in their home country. However, the scarcity of the vaccine is making things even more complex.

In this article, the experts’ team of Student Cover will bring out the facts on the vaccination status and how it is associated with pursuing higher education in the US and other foreign countries.

The Vaccination program in India & Abroad

Vaccines rolled out in the US and other countries much before India. This is one of the prime reasons why foreign countries could effectively manage the COVID situation. On the other hand, India struggled to manage the effects of the second wave due to unpreparedness and scarcity of vaccines. As a result, from late April month, the average daily cases mounted from thousand to lakhs, and the death rate kept growing. At the same time, things went from bad to worse due to oxygen shortage and no availability.

US President Joe Biden announced that the US is imposing a travel ban from May 1st on India at the end of April. All those Indian citizens in the US willing to go back after a long delay and border restriction so that they could resume their work/studies were struck hard by the news. Presently, the travel ban and border restriction news have most affected the students who were eyeing any degree to pursue higher education in foreign universities. US presidential proclamation regulated its guidelines exempting students and specific other categories of people from the travel ban restriction. However, the hardships do not come to an end here. The guidelines and rules by specific universities in the US or other countries tend to keep things vague for their international students.

Vaccination drive in the US, European parts of the world, and other foreign countries have commenced. As a result, people unanimously are coming forward to get vaccinated. Seeing things on the positive side, universities are now hopeful of starting the coming semester by welcoming students to attend the lectures and pursue their degrees physically on the campus. However, although it is good news for the student community to complete their higher education, the decision has its downside for the international students.

The third vaccination phase in India began for people between 18-44 years. With the commencement of this phase, most states in the country gave up vaccinating their people due to vaccination shortage. The youth of the country above the age group of 18 years complained about not being able to book slots for getting their vaccine post-registering themselves. All the study abroad aspirants seem perplexed by this scenario in the country. Getting both the doses of vaccine is the only way out for these aspirants/students to resume their studies abroad physically on the campus and enter the borders without any fuss.

Most of the study destinations (US, UK, Australia, or New Zealand) abroad have closed their borders to India, posing helplessness amongst study abroad aspirants and those already pursuing a degree in foreign universities. However, several students made it back to their home country in 2020 while the universities abroad were vacating, given the spike in COVID cases globally. These students wished to resume their education physically on the campus as managing online classes in different time zones was a challenge throughout the year. However, things now seem dim due to the travel ban and restrictions.

According to a source’s interview, Nikhil Crasto, a 17-year-old student in Mumbai, was eyeing a computer science degree in the US and was hopeful of getting the vaccine shot before getting admitted and going abroad. Nevertheless, due to the acute vaccine shortage currently in the country and no guarantee on when the slots will be available, he now has to wait longer.

University Vaccination Program and the Accurate Vaccine

Viewing the current guidelines generated by most universities abroad regarding physical classes inside the campus, all Indian students must get vaccinated with both the shots to attend the physical classes on the campus. Presently, the US, Italy, and France are among a few of the study destinations where universities have made it mandatory for students to get vaccinated. However, if students are unable to get the shot, universities have arranged for a vaccination program on-campus so that the premises become a safe space for the entire student and staff.

Institutes like the University of Washington, Southern California, Harvard, and many others enable international students to obtain vaccination shots through their campus program. Another essential report confirmed by many prestigious news sources speaks about approved vaccinations from WHO or standard organizations. Indian students are preferred to get the shot of Covishield, a listed and approved vaccine overseas. Covishield is originally developed by Oxford and the Pharma company AstraZeneca and manufactured locally by the Serum Institute in India. Nevertheless, when it comes to Covaxin, the vaccine formula is home-grown by an Indian Pharma Company, known as Bharat Biotech.

One student informed a source that “Students who are planning to study in Ireland are exempted from mandatory hotel quarantine if they are fully vaccinated with Covidshield. However, they have to complete self-quarantine at home, as per the Government of Ireland Website”.

These details sum up that students planning to go abroad to India may again have to struggle with their dreams for another year if the Covishield vaccine continues to be in acute shortage. The other remaining are queuing up to get somehow their shot of vaccine done and go abroad without any restriction or quarantine rules hanging on their head.

Let’s Wrap Up!

All this information points to a single idea that India’s vaccine scarcity continues to be a trouble for all the study abroad aspirants and those already studying abroad but cannot resume their studies from the campus physically.

Vaccine drive would ensure the safety from COVID spread. Furthermore, it will make the universities abroad a COVID-free zone, enabling them to break the spread chain

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Disclaimer: This blog was written based on the personal research of the writer. Readers’ discretion is advised. Neither Student Cover nor the writer will be held liable for any wrongful interpretation of this blog’s content.