No jab, no pension!

Hyderabad: Taken aback by the slow progress in administering vaccines in the State, speculations are rife that the government was trying to get people to the vaccination centres for the second dose of vaccine by making it mandatory if they were to continue enjoying benefits like pensions and free ration. The news went viral following a tweet by District Collector of Jogulamba Gadwal, according to which the Collector had given instructions to the officials to prepare a village-wise list of those who did not get vaccinated and stop government benefits such as ration and pension to them.

As Opposition parties criticised this, Director of Public Health and Family Welfare (DPH&FW) Dr G Srinivas Rao denied that there was any such move or that any oral instructions as alleged by the Opposition were given. However, no one seems to have any clue about how the Jogulamba Collector had asked the district officials to stop the benefits to those who did not get vaccinated. The State government claims that it has reached a milestone of giving three-crore doses of vaccines in the State. Interestingly, still there are 69 lakh eligible adults in the State who have not taken even the first dose of vaccine. Another 36 lakh have skipped their second dose.

There is also criticism that the number of centres for free vaccine have been drastically reduced and hence people were hesitating to travel long distances to take the jab.