Religious leaders boost drive, 290 inoculated in two days in Punjab

Tribune News Service

Barnala, April 12

To convince people to get vaccinated, the Barnala administration has been seeking help of various religious organisations.

A special camp was organised at the Dera Beas sect on Sunday where 140 followers of the sect got vaccinated. Similarly, another camp for followers of the Nirankari sect was organised on Monday wherein 150 people got vaccinated. Senior citizens, too, have responded well to the call of vaccination and to date around 1,000 elderly people have been vaccinated.

“Out of total 22,926 doses, 2,616 doses have been given to healthcare workers, 5,922 to frontline workers, including all government employees, and 14,388 doses to those above 45 years,” said Barnala DC Tej Partap Singh Phoolka.

Apart from employee leaders, disciples of various religious organisations, followers of Dera Baba Punjab Singh Tajoke, including dera chief Baba Buta Singh, have also got vaccinated. Similarly, Gurdwara Singh Sabha Ghunas and Gurdwara Sahib Tallewal chief Sant Baba Karnail Singh, too, showed enthusiasm and all its in-house followers have also been vaccinated.

“Apart from getting ourselves vaccinated, we all must help government authorities in allaying the fears of residents about getting the jab,” said Gurmukh Singh, a local resident.