COVID-19 vaccination: Kejriwal urges Centre to treat journalists as frontline workers

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday urged the central government to treat journalists as frontline workers and vaccinate them against COVID-19. He said the Delhi government will write to Centre on the issue.

In a tweet, Kejriwal said journalists are reporting from most adverse situations and they should be treated as frontline workers and allowed vaccination on priority.

Journalists are reporting from most adverse situations. They shud be treated as frontline workers and shud be allowed vaccination on priority. Delhi govt is writing to centre in this regard

- Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) April 14, 2021

Journalists are currently not included in the list of frontline workers. India's vaccination campaign against the COVID-19 pandemic began in January with healthcare workers and frontline workers permitted to get vaccinated in the first phase, before being opened to people of other age groups. On April 1, the Centre allowed all citizens aged above 45 years to get vaccinated.

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Kejriwal had earlier written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking to open up vaccination for everyone above 18 years of age. The national capital on Tuesday reported 13,468 new COVID-19 cases, with positivity rate mounting to 13.14 per cent.

Meanwhile, the rise in COVID-19 cases continues unabated across the country, with 1,84,372 new cases reported in the preceding 24 hours as of Wednesday morning. Considering the surge in cases, the Centre today decided to cancel class 10 exams for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) students, while the exams for class 12 students have been postponed.

Kejriwal, who had earlier appealed to the Centre to cancel the exams, expressed happiness on the decision.

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