Vaccination of 18-44 age group: Construction workers, kin to get COVID jab in first phase

Chandigarh: Construction workers and their family members will be covered in the first phase of the coronavirus vaccination drive for those aged 18 and above, said state Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Sunday.

Sidhu said the Health Department has received one lakh doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for the age group, whose vaccination will start from Monday across the state.

It has been decided to cover construction workers and their family members in the first phase, said Sidhu.

The minister said the Punjab government had placed an immediate order of 30 lakh doses with the Serum Institute of India Ltd and has been told that 4.29 lakh doses for the group will be given in the month of May. Individuals with co-morbidities are at highest risk, hence, 70 per cent of doses have been allocated to this group in the next phase, he said in an official statement here.

The minister said 30 per cent of the doses have been kept for those having greater interaction with the public. Under it, government employees, construction workers, teachers and other staff at government and private educational establishments will be covered in May, he said.

He further said the state government is developing a plan for the evaluation of vaccine effectiveness. This will be valuable in designing further control efforts, he said.