Punjab government employees failing to takeeven the first dose of Covid vaccine for any reason other than medical will becompulsorily sent on leave after September 15.
This strong measure was announced on Fridayby Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to protect the people of the statefrom the disease, and to ensure that those who are vaccinated do not have topay the price for continued vaccine hesitancy of those who are not.
At the high-level virtual Covid reviewmeeting held today, the Chief Minister said vaccine effectiveness is evidentfrom the data being analysed. Special efforts were taken to reach out toGovernment employees, and those who continue to avoid getting vaccinated willnow be asked to go on leave till they get the first dose.
Captain Amarinder also allowed teaching andnon-teaching school staff who had taken at least one dose of vaccine more thanfour weeks ago to resume duties, subject to submission of weekly RTPCR negativetest reports. However, all those with co-morbidities shall only be allowed oncethey are fully vaccinated, he added.
School Education Secretary Krishan Kumarearlier pointed out that currently, only fully vaccinated staff members areallowed to come to schools. Health Minister Balbir Sidhu suggested gap for thesecond dose to be reduced for the school staff to 28 days but Chief SecretaryVini Mahajan informed the meeting that the Centre had rejected the state’srequest to allow them to be treated as essential services.
The Chief Minister noted with satisfaction thatwith aggressive testing, the situation in schools had remained under control.As many as 3,21,969 school students along with 33,854 teaching and non-teachingstaff samples have been taken in the month of August, across a total of 5799schools, and a total of 158 cases have tested positive so far, which accountsfor a positivity rate of only 0.05%, he added.
Citing the latest zero-survey, he revealedthat for children in the age group of 6-17 years, the positivity was at 60%,and it was higher in the age bracket of 14-17 years. It was spread equallyacross gender and place of residence, as per the survey, which has confirmed“that our children, even though affected by Covid, have remained largely safefrom serious disease,” noted the Chief Minister.
Health Minister Balbir Sidhu urged the ChiefMinister to ensure availability of sufficient vaccines to ensure vaccination ofall eligible people before the festivals.
The Chief Minister said he will pursue thematter with the Union Health Minister, who had earlier assured him ofadditional supplies. He directed the Health Department to ensure that all staffat sweetshops, kiosks, dhabas etc are vaccinated with at least one dose.
Noting that the state had already vaccinatedmore than 57 % of the eligible population, with the first dose administered to1.18 crore and second to 37.81 lakh people, Captain Amarinder ordered furtherintensification of the vaccination drive. Teachers, parents of young childrenand vendors should be given priority for inoculation against Covid, hedirected.
The Chief Minister expressed satisfaction atthe fact that the vaccine stocks supplied to the state had been utilisedwithout any wastage.