Chandigarh, March 27: In order to further expand thecoverage of the ongoing Covid vaccination drive, the Punjab Government isproviding vaccination facility on all 7 days a week, there will be an increasein the number of session sites, and anyidentity proof will be considered as valid document for inoculating theeligible person in the state.
This was done to effectively contain the further spread ofthe sudden surge in daily new Covid cases in the state for the past severaldays.
A decision to this effect was taken at a virtual meeting,chaired by the Chief Secretary Ms Vini Mahajan, to review the Covid situationand status of the ongoing vaccination drive, here on Saturday.
She directed all the concerned departments to ramp up thepace of the ongoing vaccination drive to cover the maximum population and savethe precious human lives from the pandemic. She also asserted to strictlyenforce the Covid appropriate behaviour among the masses.
Sharing the details, the Chief Secretary said besidesincreasing the number of vaccination centres, the government is running inoculation drive on all 7 days of the week.
Referring to the recent approval by the Union Government toalso vaccinate all persons above 45 years of age from April 1, Ms Mahajan askedthe Health and other departments concerned to rope in more private facilitiesfor increasing the ambit of the ongoing vaccination drive.
Besides continuing vaccination at private and governmentfacilities, the Chief Secretary also directed the Health department to holdspecial vaccination camps to cover the maximum citizens at their doorsteps.
"All arrangements should be in place till March 31before starting the inoculation drive for all persons above 45 years of agefrom April 1 so that there remains no hitch at the last moment," desired Ms Mahajan, while instructing theHealth department to target the eligible vulnerable sections of the societylike journalists, shopkeepers, government employees, especially those who wereengaged in public dealing, first for Covid jab.
She said the focus should be on saving lives and to curtailthe virus spread as cases were surging daily in the state.
The Chief Secretary asked the Medical Education and Researchdepartment to ensure that Covid test result report should reach the concernedperson within 15 hours as earlier detection will help to effectively containthe spread of the virus. She also directed the Health department to ensure 100per cent testing in the micro-containment zones.
Acting swiftly on the directions, Principal Secretary Healthand Family Welfare, Hussan Lal, said any photo identity card will be valid forvaccination, and there was no need to insist on a particular identity proof.
Participating in the meeting, the Director General of Police(DGP), Mr Dinkar Gupta, said the state police were on its toes to curtail thespread of virus and as many as 90,363 face mask violators have been taken forCovid testing in the state so far. In a week, more than 18,500 violators wereissued challans for not wearing masks.
The special enforcement drive was started on the directionsof Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on March 19.
He also asked the CPs and SSPs to crack the whip against theviolators, who were putting themselves and others at risk.
"Special vaccination camps would be organised for thepolice personnel and their families at police lines and other placessoon," the DGP added.
Principal Secretary Medical Education and Research DKTiwari, Health Adviser to Punjab Government Dr KK Talwar, Baba Farid Universityof Health Sciences Vice-Chancellor Dr Raj Bahadur, all Deputy Commissioners,Commissioners of Police, SSPs and other senior officials of the state governmentattended the meeting.