The Editors Guild of India on Thursday, 15 April, urged the Union government to "declare journalists as frontline workers" and provide them with priority vaccination against COVID-19, along with other healthcare and frontline workers.
The statement said that it is fair that journalists be given the vaccine as news organisations have been relentlessly working to cover the pandemic, elections and other news throughout the country to ensure that the news comes through.
It further said that journalists should be covered in the vaccination programme, owing to the rise in number of cases in the country.
Without the protection of a vaccination, “media persons are finding it difficult to discharge their professional responsibilities,” the statement read.
The press body urged the government to immediately provide vaccination to all the journalists, regardless of age, so that there is no disruption in their work and they feel safe.
India reported 2,00,739 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday in the biggest one-day spike so far, taking the country’s total to 1,40,74,564, while the death toll rose by 1,038 to 1,73,123. As per data from the Union Health Ministry, there are 14,71,877 active cases in the country, while 1,24,29,564 patients have been discharged so far.
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