Pourakarmika first frontline worker in Karnataka to get Covid-19 vaccine

A 34-year-old pourakarmika became the first frontline worker in Karnataka to get vaccinated against Covid-19 on Monday.

Ramesh, who has been sweeping the streets of Malleswaram (ward number 77) along with 90 other municipal workers for the past 17 years, was inoculated at KC General Hospital in the presence of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar and Gandhinagar MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao.

As many as 2,80,127 frontline workers across Karnataka will be vaccinated against Covid-19 as part of the drive that will go on until Wednesday.

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Ramesh, the father to a six-month-old baby boy, said that he was tested for Covid-19 four times and the result came back negative each time.

“In the morning, my wife tried to talk me out of the vaccination citing the side effects,” he said. “Fortunately, I have no problem except for the pain in the arm. I rested for a while at the hospital, then came home, had food and watched TV.”

Ramesh is elated that he is the first to get vaccinated in his five-member family that also includes his aged mother, sister, wife and the infant. He is hopeful that he would no longer pose a risk to the baby despite the nature of his work.

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According to Ramesh, nobody in his family has had Covid-19 although he had seen many pourakarmikas getting infected. “We get to work each morning as we have to make a living at the end of the day,” he said.

Ramesh said that after the pandemic began, he made sure he cleaned himself up and washed his hands and feet after work. “I don’t want to infect my family,” he said.

Among the nearly three lakh frontline workers who will be vaccinated during the drive, there are 27,000 officers from Bengaluru police and 30,000 BBMP workers.

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While police officers are keen on getting their jabs, those working in the rural development and penchayat raj and revenue departments are not, according to a health department official.

On Monday, as many as 10,414 frontline workers were scheduled to be inoculated at 121 vaccination session sites. The BBMP commissioner and other officials will be vaccinated on Tuesday, said Dr Vijayendra B K, Chief Health Officer, Public Health, BBMP, said.

Mahendra Kumar Jain, Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue Department, said he could not get vaccinated on Monday owing to state budget preparations but field-level functionaries from the department did.