Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia has said that teachers in state government and municipal corporations schools will be vaccinated on priority as they will be inducted as front line workers. It is to be noted that the government has already approved two COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use authorisation across India, and teachers will be among the first in line to get vaccinated in the national capital.
Sisodia chaired a meeting with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Anil Baijal on Wednesday. He said to Hindusthan Times that all the teachers and staff who were part of the city's COVID management team will be vaccinated on priority.
"The matter was discussed at length and it was unanimously decided that all personnel who were or have been engaged in Covid related works will be given the vaccine shot under the priority category. This is going to be across all departments," the above-mentioned publication quoted Sisodia as saying.
The teachers join the ranks of sanitation workers, police officials, and civil volunteers as front line workers for vaccination.
The government, in the first phase of vaccination, is aiming to inoculate 30 crore people from the priority groups like frontline health workers, elderly people, and those with comorbidities. However, the first to be inoculated will be frontline workers and healthcare professionals.
Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on January 8 said the government is ensuring every detail of the vaccination programme is conveyed to the people - from the national level to the grassroots level.
Three phases of dry runs have been conducted across the country. The third dry run was conducted yesterday across 615 districts covering 4895 session sites in 33 States/UTs.
Earlier, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on January 3 had granted restricted emergency use authorisation to the Serum Institute of India (SII)'s 'Covishield' and Bharat Biotech's 'Covaxin' vaccine.
Covishield is over 70 percent effective, while Covaxin is currently in the Phase 3 trials but is "safe and provides a robust immune response", the drug regulator had said last week.
While the full efficacy of Covaxin is yet to be determined, it was given go-ahead by the DCGI citing 'public interest'. Covaxin is an indigenously developed vaccine by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research.