Punjab chief minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday announced the launch of 18-44 age group vaccination for families of healthcare workers in both government and private sectors, as well as those suffering from co-morbidities, from Friday (May 14).
Directing judicious use of the limited available stocks of vaccine, the CM directed the Health Department to initiate the process of vaccinating co-morbid prisoners in this age group amid the surging cases of Covid in the state, where the positivity rate for the week ended May 12 stood at 14.2%.
Reviewing the Covid situation at a virtual meeting, the Punjab CM asked the Health Department to kickstart the vaccination programme for these priority groups from identified school and other buildings, to prevent further spread of the pandemic due to crowding at government hospitals.
Briefing the cabinet, Dr Gagandeep Kang, a special invitee to the Expert Group, said with preliminary data showing vaccines working better against the coronavirus than expected, including against the mutant B.1.617 variety, a targeted response to the vaccination programme was needed. She suggested more extensive use of Covishield, given its affordability and availability, and the fact that it offers high efficacy even with a single dose, while the second dose can be extended up to 12 weeks.
Moreover, the poor and underprivileged Covid patients living in Punjab can call up Hunger Helpline numbers 181 and 112 for delivery of free cooked meals at their doorstep through the Punjab Police department from Friday.
Such patients can call on these numbers any time of the day or night, and will be provided cooked food at their homes by the Police Department, through Covid Kitchens and Delivery Boys. The department is tying up with such kitchens and delivery agents for this purpose, said DGP Dinkar Gupta.
To ensure seamless delivery and guidance on non-emergency services to the citizens amid the Covid crisis, Punjab CM also launched ‘1100’- a unified state helpline number.
The single number would help people across the state get prompt redressal of their grievances and information related to non-emergency services.
The Call Center would be operational 24×7 to respond to citizens’ calls, and would be equipped with a 40-member team initially, which will be scaled up later based on the call volume, he said. Various other channels i.e. Chat Support, Email Support, WhatsApp Support etc. would be integrated with this helpline in due course of time.
