Second phase of vaccination drive begins, cops to get jabs

IN THE SECOND PHASE, AROUND 1.8 LAKH FRONTLINE WORKERS FROM PUNJAB HAVE BEEN REGISTERED ON CENTRE’S CO-WIN APP

CHANDIGARH/AMRITSAR: Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday launched the second phase of Covid-19 vaccination drive for frontline workers with state police chief Dinkar Gupta taking the first jab at department headquarters in Chandigarh.

In the second phase, around 1.8 lakh frontline workers from Punjab, including police and para-military personnel, sanitation staff, municipal corporation and revenue department employees and other government employees have been registered on Centre’s Co-WIN app. The registration is still open for the frontline workers.

In Punjab, the first phase of the vaccination drive has gradually failed as only 30% of the registered healthworkers turned up to take the vaccine shots. Till Monday evening, 61,332 (nearly 30%) health workers in Punjab were inoculated against a target of nearly 2 lakh.

Under the second phase of the ongoing vaccination drive in Punjab, 82,789 police personnel are supposed to be inoculated.

“Since we were getting poor response from the health workers, the health department decided to start inoculating other frontline warriors,” said Punjab nodal officer for Covid-19 Dr Rajesh Bhaskar, adding that health workers can still end the hesitancy and take the shots by February 12.

On Monday, only 2,047 health workers were given vaccines at 113 locations across the state against a target of 11,72.