Uttar Pradesh Orders Priority Inoculations For Media Personnel

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, May 4, declared that journalists and media personnel would receive special consideration and will be inoculated on priority. The government has also instructed officials to set up separate vaccination centres for journalists.

According to the Indian Express, Yogi Adityanath has instructed officials to ensure that every journalist gets vaccinated and separate vaccination centres and free vaccinations at their workplace. "If required, go to their workplaces and administer free vaccination. All those above 18 years of age will be vaccinated in the families of journalists," the chief minister said.

The government, in a statement, said a large number of freelance journalist and those working for print, electronic, and web portals work day and night. "In such a situation, the state government has given instructions to inoculate journalists and their families so as to protect them from the deadly coronavirus."

To be eligible for the vaccination, a journalist must be recognized by the Government of India or any other Union Territory or associated with print, digital, or other electronic media for five years to receive the benefits.

The government also said that journalist and freelancers and those who are not accredited would be eligible to receive the benefits of the Centre's welfare scheme that provides ₹5 lakh financial aid to dependents if a journalist dies.

Last month, the Editors Guild of India, in a statement, had said that over 50 journalists had died of the virus in April 2021 and demanded that journalists should be vaccinated on a priority basis.

Previously, Punjab, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Uttarakhand, and Tamil Nadu had declared journalists as frontline workers and ordered inoculation for them.