Here’s What Foreign Studies Students Should Know about Covid-19 Vaccinations
Now that the world is slowly opening up amidst the fight with the coronavirus, students have become hopeful for their plans of overseas education. Since March, many global universities and colleges have announced their mandates for vaccinations required by students applying for foreign education. Though it has been a piece of great news for students who were forced to let go of their study abroad plans in the wake of the pandemic, there are certain implications that they were not prepared for.
YourEduAdvisors, the leading education consultants in Delhi, bring you all the information you need to know about the college mandates on Covid-19 vaccinations.
Students Must be Vaccinated, But with Which One?
Ever since March, more than 400 college and universities in the United States have announced their mandates for vaccinations. The United States being one of the hottest destinations for aspirants, has posed quite a dilemma for students.
As per the mandates by the American institutions, students are required to be vaccinated with one of the eight vaccines approved by the World Health Organization (WHO). While this is only a logical step that requires applicants to be immunized against the coronavirus, there are countries like India and Russia that do not have a WHO-approved vaccine yet.
Ever since the Covaxin vaccine by India has been disapproved by the WHO, students have been greatly disheartened. This is not only a challenging situation for India which sends up to 200,000 students to the States annually but also American colleges and universities that are trying hard to retain international students.
As a result, not only are foreign study aspirants spending hundreds of dollars trying to procure vaccines on the black market but also hiring people to book vaccination slots in order to get vaccinated before the application processes go through. This is especially a concern for students who have already got their vaccinations done with Covaxin. Now such students are left wondering how to procure WHO-approved vaccines. To add to that, there is also the concern of safety since they already have a vaccine working in their body.
Now institutions are left with mass calls and emails by concerned students and no definite answer. This has again caused a cloud of doubt regarding overseas education plans for students who have already waited more than a year to resume their studies.
Amidst vaccine shortages and constantly changing travel restrictions, this is a concerning matter for aspirants. With no definite solution to this ongoing discussion, applicants are awaiting word from authorities before they can plan ahead. Even if the students contemplate getting revaccinated with vaccines approved by the WHO, there is no data present on if mixing two vaccines is safe.
All that’s left for students to do now is wait for more changes or postpone their education plans indefinitely.
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