Vij launches drive at police commissioner’s office

Haryana home and health minister Anil Vij on Thursday launched the second phase of the vaccination drive at the office of the commissioner of police, KK Rao

Haryana home and health minister Anil Vij on Thursday launched the second phase of the vaccination drive at the office of the commissioner of police, KK Rao. Vij said that the health department has sufficient doses of the vaccines and all front-line workers, including the police personnel, will be vaccinated within 10 days.

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“The health teams are dedicated and are working hard to ensure all people get vaccinated as soon as we get the vaccines. All police officials and MCG officials will be covered within 10 days and others will be covered under the third phase,” Vij said.

Police personnel will be inoculated at five camps in different areas in the city. The police said that personnel aged above 50 years and those deployed at state and district borders are being given priority.

Rao said that 409 personnel, including 10 officers, were vaccinated on the first day of the drive. There was no hesitation from the force and none of them reported any side effect, he said.

Rao and Yash Garg, the deputy commissioner of Gurugram, were among the first to take the Covishield jab at the commissioner’s office on Thursday. “The deputy commissioner and I were the first ones to get the vaccination shot to convey a message that the vaccine is safe and assure others not to pay heed to misinformation. We were the first ones to get vaccinated so as to assuage apprehensions about the vaccine,” he said.

Other senior officials, who were vaccinated on Thursday, included the joint commissioner of police, deputy commissioners of police, assistant commissioners of police, station house officers and personnel who were deployed at borders with Delhi and Rajasthan.

The drive was planned to begin at 10am at commissioner of police building but due to the sudden visit by Vij, the arrangements were changed and the vaccination started at 11.30am at the commissioner’s office.

The four other dedicated vaccination sites for the police were set up at the traffic tower, Sohna police station, Manesar police station and police lines.

The police said that personnel were registered beforehand and locations were allocated close to their police stations. There are 5,930 police personnel in Gurugram and about 400 personnel had tested positive for Covid-19 last year.

Amit Chauhan (37), constable, posted with the complaints branch, was the first to get vaccinated. He said that he was excited and relieved to get vaccinated, but his family members were reluctant due to a fear of side effects. “Immediately after getting vaccinated, I informed my family that I am fine and do not have any symptoms like nausea and headache. They asked me to rest for the day and asked about my experience,” he said.