Coronavirus | West Bengal govt. to vaccinate volunteers, journalists, vegetable sellers, hawkers on priority basis

It plans to give jabs to those ‘forcibly exposed to public mingling’, including COVID-19 volunteers, taxi and auto drivers, rickshaw pullers, sex workers and transgenders.

Vegetable sellers, hawkers and taxi and auto drivers as well as rickshaw pullers will be administered vaccines by West Bengal government on a priority basis. It has also decided to roll out vaccines for sex workers, transgenders, journalists and volunteers. The move to vaccinate people “forcibly exposed to public mingling” has been lauded by different sections of society. “It has been decided that, as per availability of vaccines, which in insufficient, the scarce vaccine available at the disposal of the government of West Bengal may be divided into two streams as detailed below, in terms of decision taken in the State executive committee of the State Disaster Management Authority on 15.5.2021,” a document made public by the State government said. The notification states that two streams include, general for people at large: to be taken care by the Health Department Hospitals and the other groups which are super spreaders public-facing/ forcibly exposed to public mingling: groups that are endangered and potential spreaders.