Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government on Wednesday requested the Centre to include journalists, servitors of Jagannath & Lingaraj temples, employees working at airports, railway stations & ports and others engaged in maintenance of essential services as front line workers for COVID-19 vaccination
Additional Chief Secretary of Health & Family Welfare Dept, PK Mohapatra, has written a letter to the Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India for Inclusion of additional categories as Front Line Workers (FLWs) for COVID-19 Vaccination.
Mohapatra apprised the Centre that officials from different Department, who were engaged for COVID-19 surveillance & containment measures at State & district level, are being vaccinated as Front Line Workers in Odisha since February 2021. However, many categories of persons, who are at risk of exposure to infection due to the nature of their work, have not been included as FLWs.
Therefore, the Odisha Health Department ACS suggested that the following categories may be included as FLWs:-
- Journalists and other personnel of the Print and Electronic media.
- Staff engaged in the maintenance of essential services like Electricity and Water Supply.
- Staff engaged at Airports, Railways and Seaports.
- Sebayats (Priests) of Lord Jagannath Temple, Puri and Lingaraj Temple, Bhubaneswar
ACS PK Mohapatra further urged the Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, GOI, for kind consideration to include the above categories for COVID-19 Vaccination on priority and communicate necessary approval at an early date.
