ALL 184 CENTRES NOW OPEN FOR FRONT-LINE WORKERS TO GET COVID VACCINE

NEW DELHI: Front-line workers who have registered for the Covid-19 vaccination in Delhi can now go to any of the 184 vaccination centres and get a shot, senior government officials announced on Friday.

On Thursday and Friday, several vaccination centres were opened to front-line workers on a trial basis and from Saturday, all existing centres will be opened to them, said officials.

Delhi on Friday vaccinated 9,216 of a targeted 18,400 beneficiaries, reflecting a turnout of around 50% -- which is two percentage points lower than the previous day’s, shows data shared by the government.

Friday’s 9,216 beneficiaries included both health workers and front-line workers but the government did not share the numbers for each category separately.

On Friday, 12 cases of adverse effects following immunisation (AEFI) were recorded but, senior government officials said, none of them was severe in nature.

Health workers are the first priority group in the vaccination drive that was rolled out across the country on January 16. In Delhi, around 240,000 health workers have registered for the vaccination.

Next on the priority list are front-line workers, which include police personnel, fire personnel, municipal staff, sanitation workers, school teachers and staff across all departments and agencies that are engaged in Covid-19 management.

“I request all front-line workers to come forward and take the vaccine at the earliest,” said Pankaj Kumar, district magistrate (north-east Delhi), who took the shot on Friday.

Jaidrath Chauhan, a police constable who took the shot on Friday, said, “I had no adverse reactions. I urge people to come forward and take the vaccine. Our job involves a lot of transmission risk. We should get ourselves immunised.”