Close on the heels of Odisha and Bihar, the governments of Punjab and Madhya Pradesh have also declared journalists as frontline workers. Therefore, now, they can also be vaccinated on priority.
Punjab government has announced that in addition to accredited and yellow-card journalists, even power corporation staff of state will be declared frontline workers and be allowed to avail the benefits given to frontline workers, which includes getting inoculated on priority.
Journalists were introduced into the category of frontline workers because they have been risking their lives to report about the pandemic and have been doing their significant bit to spread awareness and disseminate information. Therefore, the Punjab government feels it is their duty to protect them. Similarly, power corporation staff have been putting their lifes in danger to ensure uninterrupted supply of power to hospitals and other important institutions.
The Government of Madhya Pradesh too has acknowledged the important role that media professionals have played in spreading awareness and reporting about the pandemic. Therefore, the state government will be taking care of them just like all frontline workers. Madhya Pradesh presently has about 4,000 accredited journalists.
Earlier, the governments of Odisha and Bihar had declared journalists as frontline workers. Bihar has included even non-accredited journalists from print, electronic and web media, who have been authenticated by the district public relations officers in the category of frontline workers so that they can be vaccinated on priority.
