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Check jab status of frontline workers before giving salaries: Assam govt
The order was issued by chief secretary Jishnu Barua, in his capacity as chairperson of State Disaster Management Authority, Assam (ASDMA) after it was observed that several frontline government employees in the state were yet to get their Covid vaccination doses.
The Assam government on Wednesday directed all department heads to ascertain the vaccination status of frontline government employees before releasing their monthly salaries.
The order was issued by chief secretary Jishnu Barua, in his capacity as chairperson of State Disaster Management Authority, Assam (ASDMA) after it was observed that several frontline government employees in the state were yet to get their Covid vaccination doses.
“Non-vaccination of such frontline government servants may give rise to the possibility of further spread of the virus, which in turn may endanger the lives of common citizens especially the vulnerable groups like children, pregnant women etc,” the order said.
“Direct all department heads to ascertain the vaccination status of such government servants before releasing the monthly salary/remuneration from current month onwards,” it added.
There is no precise data on how many frontline government employees in the state were yet to get the Covid vaccine doses. Some officials, however, indicated that the figure runs into several thousands.
Assam directed all government employees who got both doses of the Covid vaccine to join office on June 14. Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma indicated last week that plans were afoot to open all government offices from July 1, and directed all employees to take vaccine doses.
“During evaluation, it was found that thousands of frontline government employees who were registered in the Co-Win portal are yet to get their doses. Since these employees are in touch with the public, we don’t want them to get infected and spread the Covid19 virus,” said Dhiraj Saud, state project coordinator, ASDMA.
“The order is not meant for all government employees but only for employees of departments like police, health, disaster management, revenue, transport, district administrations etc. where there is contact with the public,” he added.
Assam is witnessing large turnouts in the vaccination centres across the state, but there are still some who haven’t taken doses for fear of side-effects and due to their medical conditions. According to officials, nearly 30,000 anganwadi workers and around 1% of the state’s police force are yet to get vaccinated. The state government has launched an awareness drive urging everyone to get their doses without apprehension.
The government’s directive was, however, termed improper by some experts.
“Whether to take vaccine or not is a matter of choice of any individual and can’t be forced upon by the government. Employees could have medical conditions that prevent them from getting vaccinated and some could be posted in remote areas where vaccination drives are not taking place,” said neurosurgeon Dr Navanil Barua.
Assam started an “enhanced immunisation drive” on June 21 with the aim of administering Covid vaccines to at least 300,000 people daily for a month. Till Wednesday, over 6.3 million doses (5.2 million first dose and 1.1 million second dose) were administered across the state.
On Wednesday, the state recorded 2,728 new Covid19 cases. Assam has recorded nearly 490,000 Covid19 scases and 4,310 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
