The Centre on Wednesday asked the states to vaccinate all school teachers against Covid-19 on priority before September 5. India celebrates Teachers Day on that date.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that states have been allotted over 2 crore additional vaccine doses in August to expedite the inoculation drive.

The states will receive vaccine stocks between August 27 and 31, Manohar Agnani, the health ministry’s additional secretary, said, according to the Hindustan Times.

Several states in India have opened or are planning to open schools in a phased manner, giving rise to the need to vaccinate teachers and non-teaching staff members on priority.

On Wednesday, NK Arora, the head of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, said that parents and other family members of school students should also get vaccinated against Covid-19.

India has also approved one Covid-19 jab for children aged above 12 – ZyCov-D, a three-dose coronavirus vaccine, developed by pharmaceutical company company Zydus Cadila.

On Wednesday morning, India recorded 37,593 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally of infections to 3,25,12,366 since the pandemic broke out in January last year. With 648 deaths, the country’s toll rose to 4,35,758.