Domestic help, hotel staff, drivers to get jab on priority

Such workers will get the vaccine irrespective of their age and comorbid conditions. Presently, COVID-19 vaccines are only given to persons above 60 and persons between 45 and 59 with comorbid conditions. Vaccines are already given to healthcare workers and frontline workers including civic body workers and police personnel.

“High-level meetings were conducted and a decision to include domestic workers, auto and cab drivers, security guards, hotel employees, employees of malls, theatres and tea shops in other frontline workers category has been taken. Decisions have also been taken to vaccinate those workers on a priority basis. Already vaccines are being given to media persons considering them as frontline workers,” G Prakash, Chennai Corporation Commissioner, said.

Prakash added that requests have been received from bank employees’ associations to consider them as frontline workers and a final decision would be taken after discussion with the government. “Vaccinating the other frontline workers will prevent the spread of COVID-19,” he said.

When asked, a civic body official said the drive to cover the other frontline workers would be commenced in two weeks.

Meanwhile, the civic body has fixed a target to vaccinate 25 lakh to 30 lakh persons in the city before the end of next month. Chennai Corporation administers the Covishield vaccine developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca.

“We are vaccinating around 30,000 persons at more than 350 centres across the city. But our capacity is 60,000 per day. Also, we have a sufficient number of vials for one week. Presently, 42 per cent of the city population has been tested for the virus. Now, the positivity rate has increased to three per cent. Earlier, the positivity rate was less than one per cent,” Prakash said.