New Delhi: Over 16 lakh healthcare workers across the country have received COVID-19 vaccine jabs till the evening of the ninth day of the nationwide immunisation drive, as per provisional reports, the Union health ministry said on Sunday.
The ministry said that 31,466 beneficiaries were vaccinated on Sunday till 7:30 pm in five states — Haryana (907), Karnataka (2,472), Punjab (1,007), Rajasthan (24,586) and Tamil Nadu (2,494) — through 693 sessions.
"The cumulative number of healthcare workers vaccinated against COVID-19 has crossed 16 lakh (16,13,667) till 7.30 pm today through 28,613 sessions, as per the provisional report," the ministry said, adding that the final report will be completed by late in the night.
"Only 10 adverse events following immunisation have been reported till 7.30 pm on the ninth day of the vaccination drive," it stated.
Meanwhile, the civil aviation ministry has told the Union health ministry that frontline workers in the aviation sector should be considered for COVID-19 vaccination on priority basis after health workers have been given the jabs.
As per the guidelines issued by the health ministry on December 28 last year, initially around 30 crore Indians will be vaccinated, including around three crore healthcare and frontline workers, and approximately 27 crore people over the age of 50 years.
The frontline workers mentioned in the December 28 guidelines does not include aviation sector employees but personnel from the armed forces, prison staff, municipal workers, among others.
In a letter dated January 20, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Pradeep Singh Kharola told his counterpart in the health ministry Rajesh Bhushan: "You will agree with me that the crew, engineers, technicians, ground staff, frontline workers in aviation have certain risk elements while performing their duties in a most diligent manner and make air transportation a safe mode of transport."
Recently, airlines and airports had approached MoCA and highlighted the need to vaccinate their staff on priority basis, albeit once the medical personnel are covered, Kharola mentioned in the letter, which has been accessed by a news agency.
"Considering that the frontline workers of airlines and airports are also involved in movement of vaccines, this MoCA recognizes the merit in the proposal and requests the MoHFW (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) to include frontline workers of airlines and airports along with frontline workers mentioned in the operational guidelines released on December 28, 2020," he added.with agency inputs