West Bengal poll officials to get vaccinated

KOLKATA: Bengal will vaccinate all 4.7 lakh poll officials ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections. Several hundred poll officers, mostly teachers and professors, have started receiving SMSes asking them to attend designated vaccination sites from next week. The state health department has asked the district administration for a complete list of all poll officers to be uploaded to the Co-WIN application.
The move comes after the Centre informed the state that National Expert Group on Vaccination and Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC) has recommended all officials and employees engaged in election-related duties would be treated as frontline workers (FLWs) and will be vaccinated. State health secretary N S Nigam has held a virtual meeting with the district administration to prepare a list of employees to be engaged in election-related duties. “As the number of the booths has increased from 78,903 to 1,01,790 this year, the requirement of polling personnel will be around 4,76,000, apart from 15,000 micro observers. The first phase of training will start on February 19 and vaccination must start immediately,” an EC official said.
“There should be a 7-10 day gap between the last dosage and the polling day,” said joint secretary of Headmasters’ Association Sougata Bose.
“I think it should be optional because it depends on the person to get vaccinated or not,” said JU professor Samar Mondal.