Telangana lawmakers to get vaccine jab along with corona warriors

Hyderabad: The Telangana lawmakers will be among those who would get the first dose of corona vaccine along with frontline warriors. Most of them would be going to their constituencies and taking the vaccine. They say that this was a measure being contemplated to create confidence among people that the vaccine was safe and there was no need to have any kind of apprehension.

Sources said that a final decision to this effect and an action plan to administer the vaccine to all the people in the state would be finalised at a high-level meeting convened by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Monday. The meeting would also address all the pending revenue related issues under the new Revenue Act.

It is learnt that the Chief Minister got feedback from the authorities that people were expressing doubts on the safety of vaccines after all kinds of rumours were spread through social media recently. With the nation-wide vaccination programme to be launched from January 13, the state government feels that it should take confidence-building measures so that people would come forward and get vaccinated. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be interacting with all the Chief Ministers on Monday to discuss the preparedness of the States to administer the vaccine.

KCR instructed the state Police, Health, Municipal Administration and Panchayat Raj officials to finalise the list of frontline warriors in their respective wings in the first phase of vaccination programme. The local body authorities have been asked to prepare a list of senior citizens who are above 55 years of age from the voters' lists prepared by the Election Commission of India. Source said that the meeting would also discuss the preparedness of the state health department and the requirement of workforce and logistical support to take up the vaccination.

However, what would happen to those senior citizens whose names are missing or removed from the voters' list is not yet clear. The Chief Minister would also discuss the reopening of the educational institutions, enforcement of the new Revenue Act and the challenges facing in the land and property registrations, Palle Pragathi, Pattana Pragathi and Haritha Haram. All the collectors were instructed to attend the meeting with complete information on the agenda circulated to them.