‘Why are pharmacists out of Covid-19 vaccine list?’

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 11

The Punjab Chemists Association (PCA), representing over 24,500 chemists, distributors, retailers and wholesalers sought inclusion of pharmacists, medicinal traders, support staff and their families in the preference list of Covid-19 vaccination programme.

The state government conducted a dry run of the Covid-19 vaccine at three places in the city to streamline its staff to handle the rush of vaccination on January 8. During the programme, Civil Surgeon RS Sethi said the vaccination jab would be on a priority basis.

Medicine dealers are in the essential services sector and have been the most vulnerable to infection, as they also run the risk of exposure to virus while dispensing medicines.

Surinder Duggal, president of the PCA, said, “As a medical professional, chemists discharged yeoman service during the lockdown and even after it. So, it is extremely important to safeguard them in every possible way.”

Duggal said some of the chemists had succumbed to the virus while performing their duties. Even then they did not give up their duties and remained determined to serve the public.

The Centre gave approval to two indigenous vaccines to safeguard population against Covid. That paved the way for the conduct of dry run in the region.

31 fresh cases reported in district

The district health authorities reported 31 new coronavirus positive cases taking the tally to 14,721 on Monday. Of these, 21 were found to be influenza-like illness cases and 10 were contacts of positive cases. The number of active cases in the district came down to 180. No casualty was reported freezing the total number of deceased in the district to 564.