Gujarat begins vaccination of frontline workers; collectors, cops take shot

Gujarat began the vaccination of frontline workers against COVID-19 on Sunday, with district collectors, police and civic commissioners being among those who took the jabs in the initial hours of the drive.

Talking to reporters after taking the vaccine shot, Ahmedabad Police Commissioner Sanjay Srivastava said everyone needs to get inoculated to win the war against COVID-19.

"I am feeling absolutely fine after getting vaccinated...policemen are highly exposed, so the vaccination will protect them from the infection," he added.

Ahmedabad Collector Sandip Sagale, who was vaccinated at the civil hospital here, said he and other senior state officials joined the drive "to express our appreciation for the work done by the frontline warriors during the coronavirus pandemic".

 

He also appealed to all frontline workers to get themselves vaccinated against the viral disease, saying the vaccines are "completely safe and effective".

Collectors, senior police and civic officials across all districts of the state took part in the drive and were inoculated in the early hours.

The Gujarat health department on Saturday said it had covered around 50 per cent of the healthcare workers in the state in the first round of the vaccination drive and will add around 3.3 lakh frontline workers to the list in the second round starting Sunday.

The government has made preparations to inoculate over one lakh beneficiaries on Sunday, it said.

A total of 2,45,930 or around 50 per cent healthcare workers in the state have so far been covered in the first phase of the vaccination drive that was launched on January 16, with 33,193 beneficiaries vaccinated across 579 centres on Saturday, the health department said.

Not a single person has experienced any serious side-effects due to the vaccination so far, it claimed.