The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) that guards the country’s major civil airports and other vital installations has provided the precautionary or booster Covid vaccine jabs to more than 9,000 personnel since these doses were launched countrywide on January 10, a senior officer said on Wednesday.
Out of these, 2,500 personnel belong to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) security wing, its largest unit in the country in terms of number of personnel deployed.The about 1.62 lakh personnel strength central force that functions under the Union home ministry has deployed more than 12,000 male and female personnel in the DMRC unit.The force, according to official data recorded till Tuesday, has the highest number of active coronavirus cases, at 1,550, among the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) that includes the CRPF, BSF, ITBP and SSB apart from the NSG and the NDRF.The total active cases in these forces are 4,539 with the CRPF having 1,198 infections, BSF 729, SSB 555, ITBP 311, NDRF 157 and NSG 39.
“The CISF has already vaccinated over 9,000 of its personnel with the booster dose across the country to enhance protection against coronavirus infection.”The vaccination drive is running across all the 353 CISF units including 64 airports and we will ensure that 100 per cent of our eligible personnel are inoculated at the earliest with the precautionary dose,” an official spokesperson said.He said that “CISF warriors have being dealing with the COVID-19 menace, particularly at the Delhi Metro and airports, as front liners and have highest vulnerability due to exposure and contacts with the passengers”.
“More than 12,000 personnel are deployed in the DMRC unit of CISF to ensure safety of passengers and property of Delhi Metro that connects the national capital to neighbouring districts of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and provides mass rapid transit to more than 35 lakh passengers daily,” he added.It is expected, the officer said, that all eligible personnel of the DMRC unit will get their booster vaccine by January 20.India began administering the precaution dose of COVID-19 vaccine to healthcare workers, frontline workers including personnel deployed for election duty and those aged 60 and above with co-morbidities from January 10 as a spike in coronavirus infections fuelled by the Omicron variant of the virus is being witnessed.
