Prisoners among 8 lakh frontline workers to be vaccinated for Covid

The state government has procured 5.5 lakh doses of Covishield directly from the manufacturer for the special vaccination drive

Some eight lakh people falling into an expanded definition of frontline workers are due to be vaccinated starting from tomorrow, but questions have arisen after prisoners were also included in the list. As per officials, the state government has procured some 5.5 lakh doses of Covishield directly from the manufacturer for the special vaccination drive which covers people between the age of 18 to 44 falling into 22 expanded categories of frontline workers. A further 2.2 lakh doses are expected to arrive on Saturday.

Among those eligible for vaccination are employees and volunteers working in crematoriums and cemeteries, health officials and their immediate families, teachers appointed for Covid-19 duties, government transport employees, auto and cab drivers, electricity and water distribution employees, postal workers, street vendors, office security and housekeeping staff, judiciary officials, attendees of senior citizens or critically ill patients, child rights activists and members of the women and child welfare department, members of the press corps, staff belonging to hospital goods and freight supplies, oil industry and gas distribution personnel (including petrol station personnel), employees of the drug manufacturing industry and deliverers of oxygen, medicine and hospital equipment, people without ID cards such as orphans and people in old age homes, APMC staff and employees of food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department.

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Prisoners are a vulnerable population

Dr Arundathi Chandrashekar, Director, National Health Mission, said that the prisoners were included due to a long-standing demand from the judiciary over concerns that an outbreak would happen in prisons. “The frontline workers list is actually a misnomer. It has since been changed to ‘frontline workers and vulnerable people’,” she said, adding that the updated list also includes also added handicapped people and caretakers.

“The number of prisoners due to be vaccinated is small compared to other groups. There are only about 10,000 prisoners earmarked to receive the jab, most of whom are at Parappana Agrahara Prison in Bengaluru,” Dr Arundathi explained. In Shivamogga district, health officials said they would only vaccinate prisoners and others such as auto drivers after receiving 5,000 additional doses on Sunday.

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In contrast, Dr Arundathi noted that two lakh street vendors would be vaccinated statewide, followed by smaller numbers in other categories, including some 20 to 30,000 people involved in transport services.

First Day to be Slow

In Bengaluru, the municipal Chief Commissioner, Gaurav Gupta, said the drive will be taken up in a symbolic manner in consultation with organizations such as crematoriums workers association, after which a strategy will be worked out. “Every category of worker will require a different strategy and different camps,” he said, but could not say how long it would take to vaccinate everyone. “There are a lot of logistics involved. Microplans have to be chalked out,” he said.

While officials hope to vaccinate one lakh people in these special categories tomorrow, they said that the first day would likely be difficult. “We expect confusion and eligibility certificates may take some time,” Dr Arundathi said.