West Bengal: Kin of health workers now on inoculation priority list

KOLKATA: The state health department has included family members of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers in the priority group for the inoculation programme. The official order on Wednesday brought much relief to these frontline workers who have been demanding for this inclusion.
TOI had reported on Wednesday on the increasing demand by doctors’ organisations and resentment among the healthcare fraternity over not prioritising their family members for the inoculation. The order from Swasthya Bhawan on Wednesday identified these family members as being in the risk group and has asked districts magistrates, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and CMOH (chief medical officers) — or the official concerned — to arrange for their vaccination on a priority basis.

“This order has brought a huge relief to me and my colleagues who have to go back home daily after working in the Covid ward. I will feel much at ease going back to my son and daughter once they get the shot,” said a senior nurse at a state run Covid-19 hospital in Kolkata. She was among the first healthcare workers to get the jab on January 16, the first day of the vaccine rollout.
Even as the state government rolled out the vaccination drive for 18-44 age group from mid-May, the doses are currently being offered only to prioritised groups like potential super-spreaders, including transport workers, hawkers etc.
“Even as my parents have got the vaccine from government centres, my sister and brother who are in the 18-44 category are yet to get the shot. Now they will be vaccinated from the government,” said a young lab technician who works in a state-run RT-PCR lab.
The health department has also included informal healthcare providers who work in rural areas in its priority list. In fact, many of these healthcare providers are the first point of contact for patients in villages.