Chandigarh, June 22: Taking a lead in anti covid shots, Haryana Police have vaccinated 90 per cent of the force for the first dose and 65 per cent for the second dose since the launch of inoculation drive for front line workers in the state.
It is worth mentioning that the vaccination drive for police personnel - who have been put in the frontline workers category - started on February 4, 2021. DGP Haryana, Sh. Manoj Yadava encouraged the police officers and jawans by volunteering to get vaccinated first among the force. As a result, so far 53924 officers and jawans have got the first anti covid shot and more than 38988 were given both doses.
Appreciating all the police personnel, voluntarily coming forward to get themselves vaccinated, the DGP said that the number of policemen who have received both doses is around 65 per cent, as a gap of 8-12 weeks is mandatory between two jabs as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Health. These personnel are waiting for the mandatory gap between the two doses to end. However, few police personnel may not have been vaccinated for medical reasons, he added.
The way these 'karmaveer' stood in solidarity in protecting the citizens against COVID-19, in the same manner, their response to the vaccination drive is heartening.
At present the number of police personnel working in Haryana is close to 60,000. It also includes Home Guards and Special Police Officers (SPOs).
While working on the frontline, policemen have to protect themselves from infection along with the safety of others. With a good pace of vaccination, we are striving to achieve the target of 100% vaccination soon.
The DGP said that our police are helping the people by staying in the front line continuously during the pandemic. Besides maintaining law and order, each of our officers and jawans fearlessly ensured food to the poor and needy persons, safe home return of migrant workers and labourers and also took care of the elderly. After noticing the shortage of ambulances in the deadly second wave, more than 460 Innova vehicles were provided to all the districts to transport infected patients free of cost to hospitals and back home. Besides this, police have alos helped the home isolated patients by ensuring home delivery of oxygen cylinders. Police efforts in serving mankind were also recognized at the national level.
Today, as a result of collective efforts, the Covid death rate in the state has come down and the recovery rate is quite high. The infected police personnel have also joined their duty again after the recovery.
Out of 6547 personnel working in the front line tested positive, 6480 have recovered and rejoined duties while 67 are still infected. It is regrettable that 45 personnel including 3 SPOs have succumbed to the virus. Despite all this, our men and women in ‘khaki’ are working very hard and performing their duty.
The DGP emphasized that the protective shield of the vaccine is very important to prevent the infection. In addition, all precautions and safety guidelines must also be followed.