The Assam government directed all department heads to ascertain the vaccination status of ;frontline workers working in the government sector before releasing their monthly salaries. The order was issued by Chief Secretary Jishnu Barua as chairman of the State Disaster Management Authority, Assam (ASDMA), after it was observed that many frontline government employees in the state have not yet taken their Covid-19 vaccine.
“Non-vaccination of such frontline government employees may lead to further spread of the virus, which may endanger the lives of common citizens, especially vulnerable groups such as children, pregnant women, etc.,” the order said. “
“Instruct all department heads to ascertain the vaccination status of such government employees before releasing the monthly salary/remuneration from the current month,” it said. There is no official data on how many frontline government employees in the state have not yet received their dose of Covid vaccine. Although some officials indicated that this figure is in the thousand.
The Assam government directed all employees to join the office from June 14, who were directed to join the office from June 14. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had indicated last week that there is a plan to open all government offices from July 1 and directed all employees to take vaccine doses.
Vaccines are being administered in large numbers in immunization centers in Assam. But there are still some people who have not taken the dosage for fear of side effects. According to officials, around 30,000 Anganwadi workers and about 1% of the state’s police force are yet to get jobs. The state government has started an awareness campaign urging everyone to take their dose without any apprehension.
Assam launched an “advanced immunization campaign” on June 21 with the aim of vaccinating at least 300,000 people daily for a month. As of Wednesday, more than 6.3 million doses (5.2 million first doses and 1.1 million second doses) had been administered across the state. On Wednesday, 2,728 new Covid19 cases were registered in the state. Assam has recorded around 490,000 Covid19 cases and 4,310 deaths since the start of the pandemic.