Include homeless in priority list for vaccination drive: NGO urges govts 

NEW DELHI: A Delhi-based non-governmental organisation working for the homeless people has on Monday appealed the AAP and central governments to include those under priority group after healthcare and frontline workers for vaccination against coronavirus. According to Centre for Holistic Development (CHD), the homeless people due to weak immunity have compromised their ability to fight a deadly virus like the covid.

“I witness how poor nutrition and co-morbidities associated with living rough on the streets affects the ability of these homeless men, women, elderly and children to access medical facilities, this makes it makes the immune system weak” said Sunil Kumar Aledia, executive director of the organistaion.

The CHD has written to Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan and also to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.The NGO has also appealed that the caretakers and sanitation workers working round-the-clock in shelter homes and other welfare institutions should be seen as essential workers and must be immunized on priority-basis.

According to the Census of India (2011), Delhi is among the few states that has seen a sharp increase in the growth rate of homeless populations.Vaccination against coronavirus has been divided into three priority groups- first to the health workers, then frontline workers such as police officials and then people above 50 years and then people below 50 years but with co-morbidities.